Calay News
For decades, battery manufacturers have been working to improve their efficiency in order to increase the range of electric cars. Elonroad is a Swedish project that seeks to solve this problem by electrifying roads, ensuring infinite autonomy for electric vehicles. The project has already been implemented in two Swedish cities, Lund and Maristad, with several kilometers of Elonroad roads. The name of the project is a tribute to Elon Musk, but how does it work?
The technology is inspired by the Scalextric game, where cars had a metal brush at the base that touched a metal strip in the center of the track to draw electricity. To install this technology, metal strips are placed in the center of the road, which are electrified but only generate electricity when a car is connected to them.
These strips are only one meter long, self-powered, and powered only by the electricity beneath the car. To power these strips, a mini-electric station is needed every kilometer, which does not seem difficult since light poles are usually placed near roads. When an electric car with a low battery runs on the road, it can lower the rails on the underbody and connect to the metal strip to recharge its battery.
According to Elonroad, the battery recharges faster than the car consumes, which guarantees infinite autonomy. In addition, the road can also recharge the cars when they are parked. The cost of the electricity consumed is paid by the driver, and Elonroad has devised a system that records the energy that is recharged and automatically charges the vehicle via cloud servers.
Although Elonroad does not mention pricing, it appears that the system is complex and expensive to install on a large scale but may be a viable option in urban environments or in certain special areas.
