Innovation Signal 51 (2026) | 24 August 2026
Roads are getting closer to charging heavy vehicles while they move
Short note, about 5 minutes to read.
What happened
Charging vehicles wirelessly while they are moving is not a new idea. Researchers have explored and tested dynamic road-charging systems for years. What is changing is the ability to transfer substantially more power to heavy vehicles while they are travelling under increasingly realistic road conditions.
Earlier dynamic road charging → higher-power transfer → heavy-vehicle testing on real roads
Researchers at Purdue University have demonstrated a system that transferred 190 kilowatts of power to a heavy-duty electric truck travelling at about 65 miles per hour on a highway. Electrical coils installed beneath the road create a magnetic field that transfers electricity to receiving equipment underneath the vehicle (dynamic wireless power transfer).
Independently, Gustave Eiffel University has been involved in another dynamic-charging trial on a 1.5-kilometre section of the A10 motorway in France, working with VINCI Autoroutes, Electreon and Hutchinson. Prototype vehicles including a heavy truck have been tested in real traffic conditions, with initial results showing the system transferring more than 300 kilowatts of instantaneous power and more than 200 kilowatts on average under optimal steady-state conditions.
Together, these developments suggest that dynamic road charging is moving beyond demonstrating that electricity can be transferred to moving vehicles and towards testing whether substantial amounts of power can be delivered to heavy vehicles under conditions relevant to real road transport.
Why this matters
Heavy electric trucks require large amounts of energy to travel long distances while carrying substantial loads.
Today that energy has to be stored onboard and replenished when vehicles stop to charge. If roads can eventually supply some electricity while trucks are moving, vehicles could replenish part of the energy they use during the journey itself.
This could reduce some of the pressure on stationary charging and potentially change how batteries and charging infrastructure are designed for long-distance electric transport.
Who should care
- Truck manufacturers and fleet operators
- Logistics and freight companies
- Road and transport infrastructure agencies
- Electric-vehicle charging companies
- Utilities and electricity-network operators
- Governments developing electric-transport infrastructure
- Investors tracking transport and infrastructure technologies
What could change over the next 2 to 3 years
Further trials could test dynamic wireless charging across longer road sections, different heavy vehicles and a wider range of operating conditions.
The more important next step will be establishing where this approach makes practical and economic sense compared with stationary charging, particularly on heavily used freight routes where large numbers of vehicles follow predictable journeys.
What might block this
Embedding electrical equipment beneath roads would require substantial infrastructure investment and coordination between road operators, electricity networks and vehicle manufacturers.
Systems would also need to transfer electricity reliably across different vehicles, speeds and road conditions while meeting safety and interoperability requirements.
Most importantly, demonstrating substantial power transfer to moving heavy vehicles does not yet show that electrifying long stretches of road will be economically practical.
Why I am sharing this
Charging vehicles while they move has been explored for years. Recent testing is moving towards substantially higher power transfer to heavy vehicles under real road and highway conditions.
As these systems are tested at higher power and under more realistic conditions, some of the energy needed for a journey could eventually be supplied while the vehicle is travelling rather than entirely through stationary charging.
The longer-term change may be that some roads begin to become part of the energy infrastructure that keeps vehicles moving.
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Archive Tags
Electric Vehicles · Heavy Transport · Charging Infrastructure · Dynamic Wireless Charging