Slashdot Mirror
England To Test "Electric Motorways"
DaneTerry88 writes: Highways England plans to test under-road wireless charging equipment that could be buried beneath motorways to top-up cars as they drive. Charge-as-you-drive technologies have already been used in the South Korean town of Gumi. The town has a 12km (7.5 miles) route that allows buses to be charged as they drive over it. In a press release the agency says: "The trials are expected to begin later this year following the completion of an ongoing procurement process. The trials will involve fitting vehicles with wireless technology and testing the equipment, installed underneath the road, to replicate motorway conditions. Full details of the trials will be publicised when a successful contractor has been appointed."
Think of the Big Brother scenarios . Presumably cars will have to be fitted with some sort of identifier so that drivers / owners can pay for the charging in some way.
So while its a great idea - Id want to know whats happening to the data about my driving habits!
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Efficiency is not a big advantage of electric cars. All things considered, electric cars are not much more efficient than cars with internal combustion engines. The big advantage of electric cars is that they don't need fossil fuel. Electricity can be created from renewable resources. The big disadvantage is that storing electricity in batteries in the car is expensive and also makes the cars very heavy. "Electric motorways" don't remove the advantage of not needing fossil fuel, but do reduce the disadvantageous need for heavy and expensive batteries.