Colorado Announces Energy-Transfer Highway Project
Nikola recently introduced the hydrogen fueled, electric-powered Class 8 Nikola One. Photo: Tom Berg
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Nikola recently introduced the hydrogen fueled, electric-powered Class 8 Nikola One. Photo: Tom Berg
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Hard on the heels of last week’s high-profile Nikola’s hydrogen-electric powered truck launch comes news that the Colorado State Department of Transportation is working with private partners to explore the development of an energy-transfer highway segment.
The project will allow real-world testing of a stretch of an electric grid embedded in a stretch of highway that transfers electricity to electric-powered trucks through a coil transmission and reception system. Much like a cell phone charging surface commonly used today, the project would use powerful energy coils to transmit electric power upwards and into energy receiving coils mounted on the underside of trucks traveling in the dedicated energy-transfer lane.
Peter Kozinski is director of CDOT’s RoadX program – a forward-looking initiative that seeks out new, energy-efficient transportation technologies. He says the agency has been working with AECOM, a Los Angeles-based infrastructure builder for approximately 8 months to flesh out the beginning stages of the pilot program.
“We feel the vehicle of the future will be electrically powered,” Kozinski said, “and yet the cost of battery packs, combined with range anxiety concerns are real barriers to widespread acceptance of this technology. Our goal with this project is to determine if this power grid and energy transfer system can work in real-world driving conditions.”
Andrew Liu, vice president, AECOM Ventures said his company is a progressive, and forward-thinking road building and infrastructure construction firm that is committed to helping the United States move its road network into the 21st Century. “We’re already seeing the rise of all-electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles,” Liu said. “But what we have today are increasingly smart vehicles driving on dumb roads. And we want to help change that.”
According to Liu, AECOM has been working with the Sustainable Electrified Transportation Research Center, …Read the rest of this story
