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Conceptually neat, but the reality is that wireless charging for even small devices like phones is a pretty significant waste of energy, at scale. The amounts of energy involved with wirelessly charging a heavy truck - or even car - would be unconscionably large.
It’s a bit like uber with their not-a-bus bus service. Humans already invented a solution that works really well. It’s called a pantograph. Sweden is testing a ground-level power supply that provides 800kW per vehicle at 130kph.
Yeah, this sounds stupid, and I'm worried about the amount of power wasted by induction charging. Anyone who's wirelessly charged a phone knows it can get quite hot; that's wasted energy. And Indiana's generation is still mostly natural gas and coal, so at some point, with enough losses in transmission and charging, you'll end up with a higher-carbon vehicle than a diesel truck...
I am not sure what that point is, but the efficiency of charging is an important consideration in my mind.
Also, supplying electricity to fast moving ground vehicles isn't new, just look at... every high speed rail system ever...
If you could somehow safely combine induction charging with electrical transmission lines, it would be worth it. No more lines on poles.
But highways are regularly utilized to transport oversized loads.
Wtf is wrong with that image?
Nothing? The turbine blade is sticking up just like it appears.
___Oh wow. Didn't know they would transport them semi-upright.
They don’t always. I’ve seen plenty of semi trucks hauling these horizontally on the highway similar to how concrete beams are hauled.
Well, it sorta makes sense in hindsight, it'd be even longer otherwise + this way you can clear lower obstacles on curves... But holy shit does it look like it shouldn't be possible. I mean they're super heavy, right? Right?
It's the carbon fiber which is very light and barely recyclable
... Why did I think they were made of metal lmao
It’s a huge rigid structure which has to be light. I also thought of steel before I learned about carbon fiber.
The pantograph system in Germany failed though... Too ahead of its time?
And I'm saying this while being very much pro-pantograph. This has no chance if Germans couldn't make an economical pantograph system.
Came here to say this. We tested this in Germany and this experiment failed. Too bad that they didn’t post the details then. I wish this had worked…
I dived deeper and found the full results of the eWayBW test and a summary. So far I don’t see there why the test was considered a failure. It’s all in German of course.
I didn't read all of it but the technical side was mostly OK (as expected, it's an adaptation of proven train technology), it's just that there was little commercial interest.
That would mean that a more progressive country could use it successfully
I didn't realize until I read your linked article that wireless charging is essentially induction. Contactless. I have never had one of these devices. Now I want modern earbuds even less. Thanks for sharing that article!