Tel Aviv to launch pilot for electric roads that charge vehicles as they drive

The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality says it is launching a pilot for electric smart roads that can charge vehicles such as public buses as they drive along.

The technology comes from an Israeli company, ElectReon, which already has a vehicle running the 4.1 kilometer (2.5 mile) route between the airport and town center of Visby on Gotland Island in Sweden. This includes a 1.6 kilometer (one mile) long electric road and is used by an electric bus and an electric heavy duty truck.

Tel Aviv’s pilot, due to start in a couple of months, will see a 600 meter (just under 2,000 foot) recharging stretch built under the two kilometer (1.25 mile) bus route between the Tel Aviv University Railway Station and the Klatzkin Terminal in Ramat Aviv. The vehicle will be an electric bus with a special battery.

Illustration of an electric bus traveling along a stretch of Electreon smart road, recharging as it travels. (ElectReon screenshot)

If the pilot is successful, more roads will be equipped with the below-surface technology. The municipality plans to examine adding other forms of transportation to the electric roads, such as distribution trucks and private and autonomous vehicles.

— with Sue Surkes

Most Popular