The US state of Florida recently approved a new toll road project, which includes an electrified section that can wirelessly charge electric vehicles. Called State Route 516, the new east-west highway will connect Route 27 in Lake County to Route 429 in Orange County, a major upgrade to Central Florida’s transportation network.
The project is a partnership between the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) and ASPIRE Corporation, the company responsible for incorporating ENRX inductive charging technology into the highway. This technology works similarly to an electric toothbrush or a car wireless charger. It transmits energy to a receiving plate at the bottom of the vehicle through a coil pre-installed under the road surface, thereby enabling charging while driving.
ENRX has more than 25 years of technology accumulation and has conducted many trials in Europe, successfully providing charging power of up to 180 kilowatts for electric vehicles. They say the technology is suitable for cars, vans, trucks and buses and will not have any impact on non-electric vehicles.
As exciting as this technology sounds, it still needs to be viewed rationally. Only about 1.6 kilometers of the approximately 8 kilometers of highway will be electrified, and only a small number of test vehicles will be charged initially. However, CFX ultimately hopes to make this charging service available to all EV drivers.
It is worth mentioning that this road is not the first inductive charging road in the United States. Detroit, Michigan officially opened a similar section of about 400 meters long last month.
The State Road 516 project cost US$524 million (Note: currently about 3.731 billion RMB). Although it needs to pass through some green spaces, the project team has also made corresponding environmental protection measures, including building wildlife passages and providing facilities for jogging and walking. A dedicated path for walkers. In addition to this, the highway will connect two of Florida’s fastest growing regions and is expected to bring significant economic benefits.
