Electric vehicles are the solution for the air pollution problems faced by urban locales. But their batteries can only produce enough power for limited distances, and are also heavy and expensive.
An Israeli startup, ElectRoad, has decided to take a different approach using a specialized technology that supplies electricity to the car wirelessly from the road - thereby dispensing with the need for carrying expensive batteries and ending the limits on travel distances.
ElectRoad says the electric lines can be integrated into urban roads at a rate of one kilometer per day, with the supply coming directly from the power grid, and that abus will be able totravel for up to 5 kilometers on a regular road after being charged on the electric road.
The company is initially targeting the public transit market. In many European city centers, buses use special lanes.
ElectRoad hopes to enter the market using infrastructure contractors and bus companies which work on transportation projects with local authorities across Europe. The company says there are as many as one million buses operating in Europe, with a stock replacement rate of 6%, or about 60,000 buses per year, meaning that the companies can pay back their investment within three years for the average electrified road, as new buses adapted to the technology are introduced.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 26, 2016
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