Purdue University and Indiana’s Department of Transportation (Indot) are working alongside German startup Magment to create the world’s first concrete highway that can wirelessly charge the electric vehicles that use it.
Magnetisable concrete will be tested and analysed at a stretch of road at Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, after which a quarter-mile-long expansion will allow engineers to monitor the concrete’s capacity to charge heavy trucks while maintaining 200kW of power.
Phase three of the project will involve electrifying a segment of an interstate highway in Indiana at an as-yet undisclosed location.
Joe McGuinness, a commissioner of Indot, said: “As electric vehicles become more widely used, demand for reliable, convenient charging infrastructure continues to grow, and the need to innovate is clear.”
Nadia Gkritza, a Purdue University professor, said: “The field of transportation is in the midst of a transformation not experienced since the invention of the automobile.
“Through this research, we envision opportunities to reduce emissions and near-road exposures to pollutants, coupled with other transportation innovations in shared mobility and automation that will shape data-driven policies.”
Image courtesy of Magment
