Israel-based wireless electric vehicle charging-solution developer Electreon Wireless Ltd. has been selected by Bpifrance, the French public sector investment bank, to deploy its wireless electric road system (ERS) as part of a pilot project in France, the company announced July 12.
The deployment of Electreon’s wireless electric road will come up on a section of the A10 highway, southwest of Paris, France, the company said.
“Bpifrance, together with the relevant French Ministries, selected Electreon and its consortium partners for the project as part of its strategy to promote decarbonized mobility,” the company said in a statement. The said consortium is led by Vinci Autoroutes with several additional partners to Electreon, including Vinci Construction, Hutchinson and the Gustave Eiffel University.
Electreon said that as part of this pilot project in France, it plans to unveil its next-generation product with significantly increased power transfer capacity, additional software features such as real-time monitoring and an even more robust architecture, which are specifically designed for dense traffic corridors on public highways.
Electreon plans to deploy a 2-km dynamic wireless-charging road as well as a stationary wireless-charging station. The company said that the planned EV charging infrastructure will be able to support all vehicle types and classes.
Further, Electreon also plans to provide a 40-metric-ton truck as well as a bus, and looks to invite multiple leading automotive partners to benefit from its new product capabilities.
Commenting on the pilot project, Electreon CEO and Co-founder Oren Ezer said, “We are honored that Electreon has been selected as the on-the-go wireless charging technology for France's first ERS deployment. Electreon is excited to once again partner with [Vinci], and due to the strategic importance of the French market, is expanding its presence in the region. France's net-zero transport plan to reach nearly 9,000 km by 2035 is yet another example of the widespread global adoption of wireless charging and we are looking forward to unveiling our next-generation product with significantly increased power transfer capacity in this project.”
Adding to that, Louis Du Pasquier, director in charge of Decarbonation at Vinci Autoroutes, said, “Wireless Electric Road Systems are particularly promising in terms of economic and industrial impacts, as it can decarbonize road transport through dynamic charging of electric vehicles while reducing Europe's dependence on raw materials needed to manufacture batteries (such as lithium, nickel and cobalt) and create jobs and industrial activities in France, where these systems' components can be manufactured.”
Significance: According to the company, the initial phase of the planned pilot project will focus on charging commercial electric fleets as they drive on the roads. However, the ultimate goal is to deploy the ERS across all major French roadways to decarbonize passenger and freight transport, and the heavy-trucking industry, it said.
It further said in its note that the selection of Electreon, together with its consortium partners, follows the France's Transportation Ministry 2021 study on the most efficient and sustainable large-scale technologies and strategies to achieve net-zero transport emissions.
The study had concluded that if deployed at large scale, the ERS could reduce CO2 emissions from road freight transport by 86% as compared to diesel. That said, without ERS, electric heavy-duty trucks would have to be equipped with extremely large batteries and stop to charge at high-power charging stations.
The study had also proposed a plan to deploy ERS over nearly 5,000 km by 2030 and nearly 9,000 km by 2035, highlighting the critical importance of the technology as a significant piece of the puzzle to achieve net-zero road emissions, focusing on freight and heavy-trucking industries.
Electreon said that its dynamic wireless-charging technology has entered its fully commercial and industrial phase and is the subject of numerous demonstrations, deployments and commercial projects worldwide; most notably in Israel, Germany, the US, Italy, Sweden and Norway.
