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Range Anxiety
Detroit's Electric Road
The city of Detroit opened the country's first road capable of wirelessly charging
electric vehicles as they drive this week, a key step toward wider adoption of the technology. The quarter-mile demonstration project is meant to show the feasibility of wireless charging as a supplement to an eventual nationwide charging network for electric vehicles.
The technology relies on magnetic resonance induction, similar to wireless charging for cellphones and other devices (and discovered by Nikola Tesla). Effectively, large copper coils placed under the road create a magnetic field, which induces an electric current in a receiver in the car as it drives through, thereby charging the battery (watch 101). The process is not harmful to humans.
In the demonstration, the charging rate reportedly reached as high as 19 kW, a small percentage of the stored energy needed to power an average electric vehicle during regular use.
Analysts say the enhanced roads may help address "range anxiety"—a concern of potential consumers worried electric vehicles can only travel limited distances.
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