Electric highway – Cars will run on electricity, not on battery… see how electric roads work
Why is the discussion of electric road gaining momentum?
Before proceeding further, let us know two things. First of all, how is the talk of ‘electric road’ catching on? Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari is known for implementing new experiments. He has a big contribution in the discussion of electric road in India. He has talked about electric road many times. In the same week, he has repeated it again and has told that he is also in talks with some companies including Tata for this. Like Gadkari, many people feel that electric roads can provide a better option for commuting.
What are the problems with conventional vehicles?
Now the second and most important thing is that why are electric vehicles gaining popularity and why are all the countries giving so much emphasis on adopting it? The biggest problem with vehicles running on conventional fuel i.e. diesel and petrol is that pollution spreads. The whole world is emphasizing on reducing carbon emissions in view of problems like global warming. The contribution of these vehicles in air pollution is very high. For this reason governments are promoting electric vehicles, which do not emit any smoke at all.
Why the world is looking for electric option?
Apart from this cost is also a big factor. In the context of India, at present the government has to spend maximum money on crude oil. More than 80 percent of the consumption of diesel and petrol etc. in the country is met by imported crude oil. If this expenditure is reduced, then India’s dependence on other countries will be reduced and valuable foreign exchange reserves will be saved. The cost factor is also important for the common people. If you buy a diesel or petrol vehicle, then the cost of filling the oil remains the same. Apart from this, the cost of servicing also comes. Electric vehicles run on batteries with the electric highway and the cost of charging the batteries is marginal as compared to diesel-petrol. Apart from this, the servicing cost of electric vehicles is also very less.
These problems with electric vehicles
Despite the ever-advancing technology, electric vehicles have their own drawbacks. Its biggest drawback is the limited range of the battery and the hours it takes to charge. Right now good electric vehicles are giving a range of 500-700 kms. If you have to travel long distances, then you will have to stop for several hours in between and charge the battery. The situation becomes more serious in the case of commercial vehicles, especially trucks, which often travel for long distances. The second problem is that of Lithium used in the battery. Like crude oil, we are also dependent on imports in the case of lithium. Meaning… It has reduced the problem of carbon emissions, but the dependence on imports remains. Along with this, the problem of range also comes.
Work is going on here on electric roads
There is a section of people who believe that electric roads can also remove those shortcomings, which are not possible to be removed by electric vehicles. Many companies around the world are working on electric roads, including Germany’s car company Volkswagen. Volvo has also prepared a design for this. Electric road has been built in Stockholm, Sweden, a few years ago. First it was experimentally prepared for a few kilometers on the outskirts of the road. Now Sweden is preparing to build such a highway about 3000 kilometers long. This year, the work of building an electric road has started in Detroit city of America.
The concept of overhead wire is old
It is not that electric roads are a brand new thing. Like electric cars, the world has also seen the concept of electric roads in the last century itself. For this, work is going on on two types of concepts. The first concept is based on overhead electric wire. To understand this with an example, you can look at train or metro. Volkswagen’s concept is based on this.
For this, the company is trying to run hybrid vehicles in a way or on the electric highway. On the electric highway where there will be overhead wires, the vehicles will run on electricity and where there will be no overhead wires, there will be a system to run either with battery or petrol-diesel.
Electric highway Cars will run on electricity with electric highway, not on battery… see how electric roads work ,This model will get electricity from the road
Another concept is that electricity should be transmitted to the engine of the vehicles through the tyres. Many people do not like the concept of overhead wire. There are reasons for that too. Wherever there are overhead wires, those roads electric highway will also become like train tracks. Especially in cities, such roads can prove fatal. So this is solved in Volvo’s model.
“The vehicle is equipped with a radio emitter, which the road segments can sense,” explains Volvo’s Per-Martin Johnansson. “If an electric vehicle passes a road segment with a proper encrypted signal, then the road will energize the segments that sense the vehicle.”
In this model, there will be a system of power supply like a track on the electric highway. It will work like an induction stove. Meaning that when the receiver of the car is connected in it, then only electricity will come. Meaning it will not pose any risk to the pedestrians.