From Motor City to the LA Olympics, Electreon is powering ahead with wireless charging deployments. By Megan Lampinen
Wireless charging for electric vehicles (EVs) offers significant benefits for commercial fleets in terms of convenience and operational efficiency while dramatically improving grid resiliency. Whether it’s static charging during a delivery stop or dynamic charging along a popular stretch of road, freedom from the plug tackles range anxiety, reduces road clutter, and opens the door to lower battery capacity requirements. But just how far away is this reality?
Spotlight on Electreon
Headquartered in Israel, Electreon’s in-road wireless charging solution was recognised as one of the world’s top 100 inventions for 2021 by Time magazine. Based on inductive coupling between copper coils installed below the road surface and receivers installed on EVs, the system sends electricity wirelessly through a magnetic field. This electricity is then transferred as energy to the vehicle’s battery either when parked or driving. The coils in the road are activated only when a vehicle with an approved receiver passes over them. While deployments today remain limited, Electreon believes that one day this technology could become an industry standard.
Over the years, the company has been taking its wireless in-road charging solutions around the world with projects in China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and more recently the US.
Motor City
In Detroit, Electreon technology is powering the first wireless charging road in the US. As part of the Michigan Central Station mobility hub, 14th Street has been equipped with inductive-charging coils along a one-quarter mile stretch between Marantette and Dalzelle streets. Electreon plans to extend the charged section by three-quarters of a mile in the future. Dynamic charging is supported by several stationary wireless charge points as well.
An E-Transit model from Ford, one of the project partners, has been demonstrating the technology’s capabilities in a shuttle operation. “We have been conducting VIP visits and gathering test data,” says Stefan Tongur, Electreon’s Vice President of Business Development. “All the charging is done wirelessly. Now that we’ve proven the technology works, we can go through the permitting process and liaise with stakeholders to bring this into the public domain.”
In November 2024, Electreon extended the Detroit pilot to include a last-mile delivery operation in partnership with UPS and electric truck manufacturer Xos. Electreon’s wireless charging technology has been integrated into a Xos Stepvan, which is charging dynamically en route, at static locations, and overnight at its depot. “This additional use case shows that charging can be done anytime, anywhere,” Tongur tells Automotive World. “For this particular use case, the en route static charging will be particularly effective. UPS drivers stop for an extended period and can now charge during that time. This charging infrastructure need not be limited to UPS—we can open it up for other logistics companies as well.”
Los Angeles
Over in California, Electreon is preparing to launch the state’s first in-road EV charging system to support yet another use case: buses. Project partner UCLA is converting its entire campus transit bus fleet, BruinBus, to fully electric ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. “Regulation dictates the speed of the electric transition in California,” notes Tongur. “There, it’s not a question of whether a fleet wants to go electric; it’s mandated.” As a result, many operators are scrambling to secure the necessary grid capacity at their depot. An electric road that wirelessly charges vehicles as they drive could prove a game-changer, and that’s exactly what Electreon and UCLA are setting out to prove.
The demonstration will start with a quarter of a mile stretch of electric road along Charles E Young Drive between the Westwood Plaza intersection and Murphy Hall, later extending to three-quarters of a mile. This will be supported by stationary wireless charging spots at passenger pick-up and drop-off locations, transit depots, and a new transit hub between the UCLA bus depot and the upcoming UCLA/Westwood station. Several other transit agencies will be able to access this transit hub and hence the wireless charging technology, opening up the potential user pool.
“This location has become high profile ahead of the Olympics and offers considerable opportunities for scaling,” says Tongur. “We are also considering further expansion down the road to UCLA Research Park. It’s a bigger endeavour, but we are keen to explore how this technology can be scaled and support more fleets, vehicles, and use cases.”
Adaptable to different environments
The examples above are just a portion of Electreon’s US activities and join existing projects in Europe and other parts of the world—all involving different fleet types. Broadly speaking, the company regards wireless charging as a good fit for predictable, pre-determined traffic routes. “Wireless charging is an enabler that can be adapted to different environments,” says Tongur.
While he suggests the holy grail of wireless charging is long-haul transport, the obstacles for this use case are significant: “Wireless charging for long-haul could change our entire view of transportation, but the path there is very challenging in terms of business models, regulation, and vehicle availability. For now, we are looking at corridors or cities with predefined areas within which vehicles operate. The main metric is high utilisation of charging infrastructure.”
Along with buses, shuttles and last-mile delivery, he also sees huge potential for wireless charging in car-sharing. “One of the biggest problems with electric car-sharing is that customers often don’t plug in the vehicles after use, so there’s no juice in the car when the next customer arrives.” Having wireless charging coils under designated parking spots could eradicate that issue. He also flags taxis as a good fit, with charging located under official taxi queues outside hotels or airports, as well as drayage trucks operating in a port environment and toll roads.
Importantly, the infrastructure is open to multiple users. “Electric roads can serve as a shared charging infrastructure and support millions of vehicles—cars, buses, trucks,” Tongur emphasises. During peak travel times, such as holiday weekends, traditional plug-in charging stations could become overwhelmed as EV numbers increase. In this scenario, wireless dynamic charging dramatically rewrites the rulebook. “It will accelerate EV adoption,” he asserts.
But how quickly? In 2022, Electreon Co-Founder and Chief Executive Oren Ezer told Automotive World that wireless could become the dominant form of charging by 2027. While Tongur is optimistic, he cautions that this will hinge not just on Electreon’s expansion but buy-in from automakers and suppliers willing to install the technology in their vehicles. “The bottleneck is with the OEMs,” he says. “The turning point is when wireless charging comes on a vehicle as standard or an option at purchase.”
In 2023 Electreon, formed an agreement with Toyota and Denso to jointly develop an aftermarket wireless kit for current EVs to use wireless charging technology, as well as integration of the wireless technology into new cars. Collaborations like this are the start of what’s needed to realise a wireless future. “With these partnerships we are on a good pathway [towards becoming the dominant form],” concludes Tongur. “As we see with mobile phones, once you’ve gone wireless, why would you go back to the cord?”
