Recharging on the go

[JRP3]

As I traveled the interstates this holiday I considered the practicality of using some sort of "third rail" induction charging for sections of the highway. I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere before but I was thinking of maybe 2-4 mile strips of high energy charging capacity. At 60mph you'd get a 2-4 minute charging boost, if you needed more you'd slow down to 30mph for twice as much. With an Altairnano type 10 min recharge battery you could almost get a complete charge from a 30mph pass over a 4 mile strip. Of course this would take a massive amount of capacity, so more likely than a full charge would be lower capacity partial charge strips.
What say ye all?

 

[TEG]

this idea has "happened before and it will happen again".

IEEE (1978)
NYtimes (1990)
IEEE (1994)
Patent (1995)
Patent (1998)
[SIZE=-1]National Guideway System

(2001)
Inductran
TRB
ETT

"build it and they will come"

[/SIZE]

 

[JRP3]

If practical to implement it certainly eliminates the "range" issue of EV's and allows "fueling" on the go, something ICE's cant offer.

 

[Kardax]

Too expensive. It'll never happen.

-Ryan

 

[onyxls1]

doesn't quite seem feasible. also, how would drivers be charged for the energy.

 

[insndrvr]

Even if you had some sort of third rail, every car would have to have a standard mechanism to reach the power, and would the cars drive themselves while touching the rail? I wouldn't trust the average driver to follow a yellow line, let alone a high voltage power strip.

Then there is the problem of the slow car, if one person decides they need to go 30mph, then everyone has to go that slow.

I could see something at rest areas for fast charging while you are using the bathroom. At 60mph driving 200 miles would take almost 3.5 hours. Most people are going to need to stop for something in the time frame.

 

[JRP3]

doesn't quite seem feasible. also, how would drivers be charged for the energy.

Something like EasyPass would work fine. Or you'd pull into a special lane with a toll booth.

 

[JRP3]

Even if you had some sort of third rail, every car would have to have a standard mechanism to reach the power, and would the cars drive themselves while touching the rail? I wouldn't trust the average driver to follow a yellow line, let alone a high voltage power strip.

With induction charging there wouldn't have to be actual contact. Yes you'd need a standard mechanism for each car, just like we have standard air valves for tires and standard fuel fills for gas.

Then there is the problem of the slow car, if one person decides they need to go 30mph, then everyone has to go that slow.

Good point. You'd need separate lanes, still feasible.

I could see something at rest areas for fast charging while you are using the bathroom. At 60mph driving 200 miles would take almost 3.5 hours. Most people are going to need to stop for something in the time frame.

Sure, I expect we'll have that. Just thinking about what might be done on the fly.

 

[JRP3]

A recent thread about magnets that linked back to this one got me thinking about another possible version of this concept. Might it be more efficient to use energy to propel the vehicle like a rail gun or maglev instead of recharging batteries? Might be inefficient to carry around enough magnets to make it work and I don't know the efficiencies of the propulsion system, plus the cost of installation. The idea would be you pull into the "maglev" lane and are pulled along for a while till the next exit or something.

 

[vfx]

More patents
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1="20070131505".PGNR.&OS=DN/20070131505&RS=DN/20070131505

A novel system for easily aligning a ground mounted power supplying electromagnetic inductor to a vehicle mounted power absorbing electromagnetic inductor is presented. The power supply inductor is preferably mounted within a parking block or a speed bump. The power absorbing inductor is mounted in a vehicle, preferably between the front tire and the front bumper. When the vehicle's front tires touch the parking block or the speed bump, the two electromagnetic inductors are aligned sufficiently to transfer power efficiently.