IVECO has unveiled the first road-ready eDaily equipped with both static and dynamic wireless charging, marking a new milestone in the development of inductive charging technology.
The vehicle will be deployed on the A35 Brebemi toll road between Brescia and Milan, where a network of coils embedded beneath the road surface transfers energy directly to electric vehicles travelling above.
The project builds on the Arena del Futuro research programme and further development through the VoltAtire start-up, which has been exploring inductive charging technology for several years.
The company now hopes to extend the concept to compatible public charging sites, while other countries, including France and the United States, are already trialling wireless charging systems on public roads.
Static wireless charging has also been tested in the UK, including during taxi charging trials in Nottingham where vehicles could charge by aligning over induction pads built into the road surface.
EV Café Takeaway
Wireless charging probably isn’t about to replace cables anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean it won’t matter.
Taxi ranks, logistics hubs, depots and controlled environments could all benefit from inductive charging if the economics line up. And when a major OEM like IVECO starts integrating the technology into vehicles, it sends a pretty clear signal that someone believes there is a commercial future here.
“Dynamic and static charging has been around for a long time. It’s quite an expensive piece of infrastructure, but there may be niches where it works really well. I’m not convinced it’s large scale, but innovation like this absolutely deserves applause.”
-Sam Clarke
“Ten years ago everything about EVs was expensive, batteries, vehicles, charging. People tested things anyway and pushed the boundaries. As technology develops, costs come down and solutions emerge.”
-Paul Kirby