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  • Imagine it's the year 1900.

  • The horse and buggy still reign supreme as the choice mode

  • of transportation,

  • but a relative newcomer,

  • the automobile,

  • is about to become all the rage.

  • And so roads begin to pave and things

  • like gas stations and traffic lights appear,

  • and voila!

  • Everything looks different and probably smells a lot better,

  • too.

  • The transition from horse to horsepower ushered

  • in a complete infrastructural change that had ripples

  • through every sector imaginable

  • and made our modern world possible.

  • A century later,

  • are we on the cusp

  • of another transformation that of magnitude?

  • Today, the world pretty much agrees on the basic idea

  • that we need to get off fossil fuels and move

  • toward more sustainable solutions to our modern needs.

  • The transportation industry accounts for something

  • like 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

  • And that's one of the largest contributors

  • of pollution in the world.

  • But going electric is not a simple panacea

  • for the world's climate problem.

  • We need to understand that electric vehicle is very good

  • but the battery is not so green.

  • The more we consume electric vehicles,

  • the more we consume electricity

  • and electricity is powered

  • by polluted materials like natural gas or coal.

  • Just like going from 19th to 20th century mobility,

  • the very infrastructure we built our society

  • on may need to change.

  • And a lot of unresolved issues remain

  • before this shift goes into full gear.

  • For example...

  • There aren't enough lithium ion and cobalt resources

  • in the world today.

  • And the whole industry is centered on making sure

  • that there's no anxiety associated with the range.

  • Batteries don't grow on trees.

  • And for every mile you want to go,

  • they become heavier,

  • which then drains them faster,

  • forcing us to stop

  • and charge up again

  • and again

  • and again,

  • which of course takes up energy.

  • And so we're left with the ultimate riddle.

  • How can we move with the ease and freedom

  • that internal combustion offers

  • while successfully reducing our overall carbon footprint?

  • Israeli EV startup ElectReon is helping crack the code.

  • We don't need to remove the battery at all

  • but we need to reduce the size of the battery.

  • And this will create a green solution to all of us.

  • We took a step back and we looked at the shift

  • to electric vehicles in a more holistic way.

  • And we said okay,

  • what makes the most sense?

  • How can we create a charging solution where the vehicle

  • battery can be as small as it can possibly be?

  • When you think about battery capacity and battery density,

  • not every vehicle requires a huge battery.

  • Not every vehicle needs to travel hundreds of miles.

  • So ultimately,

  • the vision is to empower the transition

  • to electric vehicles in the most sustainable

  • and efficient way possible

  • whilst ultimately lowering the cost

  • of ownership of the vehicles for the owner.

  • And the existing solutions based

  • on plug-in charging will not do the shift alone.

  • So we believe

  • that wireless charging is the technology

  • that can help to accelerate the adoption

  • of electric vehicles.

  • Yes, you heard that right.

  • Car charging wirelessly.

  • Wireless charging is a way to transmit energy

  • from one coil

  • to the other coil without having hard connection

  • between the two.

  • While we're driving,

  • we can charge it

  • while we're waiting for passengers

  • inside the city.

  • We can charge it

  • while we are loading goods

  • at the loading dock.

  • So it means

  • that we can charge the vehicle almost

  • any time,

  • anywhere.

  • We don't need to carry a huge battery with us.

  • We can reduce the size of the battery

  • and we can transmit the energy almost all day long.

  • We have the copper coils that are installed

  • under the road,

  • under the roadway or wherever

  • it is that we're deploying that transfer energy

  • over the air to a receiver

  • that's installed directly

  • under the vehicle chassis.

  • Works on the exact same principle

  • as an electronic toothbrush,

  • or we're seeing a lot

  • of new generation wireless charging for iPhones.

  • There's no actual connection required between the two.

  • The energy is via the app.

  • Wireless charging is actually nothing new.

  • It's use has been around almost as long

  • as the discovery of electricity itself.

  • The principle is based

  • on Nikola Tesla discovery

  • more than 100 years ago.

  • Nikola Tesla,

  • was so ahead of his time

  • that his vision for wireless energy

  • transformation was buried by his competitor,

  • Thomas Edison,

  • in favor of a less egalitarian

  • and more capitalistic system of energy transmission.

  • Today,

  • he's practically worshiped by the tech elite

  • and the Tesla coil remains the inspiration

  • for wireless internet connections

  • as well as charging solutions

  • like ElectReon's.

  • This charging can occur even when the car is moving

  • and comes with a holistic power management system

  • to maximize the process.

  • ElectReon's technology is made

  • up of four major components.

  • There's the copper coils directly

  • under the road.

  • There's the receiver unit,

  • which accepts the energy

  • from the copper coils under the road.

  • Then that relationship is managed

  • by a management unit at the side of the road,

  • which receives energy directly from the grid

  • and then safely transfers it

  • to the copper coils under the road.

  • These three components are managed

  • by cloud software,

  • which enables us to remotely

  • monitor the entire relationship,

  • make sure enough energy is being transferred,

  • and ultimately charge and bill for the energy.

  • The benefits of wireless charging are huge.

  • When we look at the transition

  • to electric mobility,

  • there are a lot of costs incurred

  • on the vehicle side

  • and on the infrastructure side.

  • Installing the technology

  • means a vehicle's battery capacity

  • can be massively reduced,

  • which can be up to 50% of the cost of the vehicle itself.

  • The vehicle never needs to stop

  • to charge again.

  • You can charge with different amount of energy

  • different vehicles on the same platform,

  • which is very unique to wireless charging.

  • Just as in the transition

  • from horses to automobiles,

  • public infrastructure plays a critical role

  • in enabling mass adoption,

  • but making major changes

  • to large complex systems

  • while they're in use isn't easy.

  • There is no standard

  • for wireless charging dynamically.

  • Ultimately,

  • in order to be able

  • to enter the market

  • and offer our technology at commercial scale,

  • we need standardization of the technology.

  • So of course,

  • we're looking,

  • in this case,

  • at involvement with the local government municipality,

  • regional transport authority,

  • whatever it may be,

  • that funds the infrastructure deployment

  • on the one side

  • and then the user,

  • the vehicle itself,

  • or the owner of the vehicle will be charged

  • for the amount of energy that's transferred

  • to them in the same way that you pay

  • for roaming services

  • or a vehicle today is charged.

  • When you deal with disruptive technology,

  • you need to educate the market.

  • You need to deal with standardization,

  • regulation.

  • You need to teach lots

  • of students

  • and bring them to the company.

  • You need to gain new knowledge.

  • You need to learn from others' mistakes.

  • We need the electric companies

  • and the grid companies to work together

  • to figure out how best to deploy

  • this technology in terms

  • of the grid requirements at scale.

  • And that's what all of the pilots

  • that we're working on are aimed at.

  • To figuring out all the pieces of the puzzle.

  • Implementing this technology sounds

  • like quite an ordeal,

  • but then again,

  • if there's anything that is constantly being worked

  • on already,

  • it's roads.

  • We're talking about scraping off just a small amount

  • of the center of the road

  • to deploy the technology

  • and doing it as quickly as possible.

  • So today we can lay a kilometer

  • in just one night.

  • So really limiting impacts to the road.

  • You know,

  • if we're doing it on one side of the road,

  • then the public can still use the other side

  • of the road the different direction

  • and making sure that as much

  • of the preparatory work is done

  • ahead of time as possible,

  • limiting impacts to road users.

  • In a few hours,

  • we can take an existing electric vehicle

  • and we can install our unique receiver pad,

  • connect it directly to the battery,

  • and then you can drive.

  • So it's very easy to convert

  • or to deal with any type,

  • any kind of electric vehicles.

  • What's really interesting

  • about this technology is how it fits

  • into each different type or use case.

  • So of course there are the vehicles that long,

  • long range.

  • You know,

  • long haul trucking companies,

  • for example,

  • traveling between states or

  • between countries want an extended mileage.

  • When we think about last mile or delivery vans,

  • well they're limited today

  • by the vehicles battery capacity

  • and how often they need to charge.

  • But essentially,

  • with this technology,

  • they could run double shifts.

  • If we look at city taxes,

  • just as an example from the mobility

  • as a service world,

  • they're also limited by the amount of charge required.

  • Ultimately, if we installed charging technology

  • along the areas where they were resting,

  • they'd be able to operate for longer hours.

  • Buses, too,

  • which operate on fixed routes.

  • So it makes perfect sense for them

  • to be able to charge

  • while driving and save downtime.

  • There is a huge need for electric busses.

  • So we decided to start with this section.

  • We have one kilometer of electrified road,

  • then we will drive the bus,

  • and you will see that it transmits energy

  • during driving.

  • Every hour,

  • we get 75 kilowatts charging the bus.

  • That means that in two hours,

  • we get 150 kilowatts.

  • This is half of the amount

  • of energy that the bus needs to drive all day long.

  • That means that we can reduce the size

  • of the battery by half

  • and lead to great savings and cost of the bus battery

  • and the bus itself.

  • Once we're going to drive the bus,

  • we're going to see

  • that the bus driver doesn't need to do anything.

  • This is the beauty of it.

  • For him,

  • it's a normal bus.

  • He doesn't need to change anything in his driving.

  • ElectReon is not relying on this test site alone.

  • As a proof of concept,

  • they have several projects around the globe

  • in various stages.

  • We have a project in Gotland, Sweden

  • where we show the charging of a large truck,

  • a 40 ton truck,

  • and a large electric bus showing the capacity

  • for battery reduction.

  • As the vehicles are charged directly

  • from the road in Tel Aviv,

  • we're showing that ultimately,

  • a bus can operate an extended

  • or 24 seven service with higher frequency trips

  • because it doesn't need to stop for dedicated charging time.

  • In Italy,

  • we're going to be deploying an interesting project

  • with a toll road operator,

  • which is a classic use case for us,

  • right?

  • If you,

  • as a user,

  • are already paying to use a toll road,

  • why not also get energy transfer to your vehicle

  • then and charge your car?

  • Part of ElectReon's vision is in alignment

  • with the trend of increasing public spaces

  • in urban environments.

  • We're talking about infrastructure

  • that's essentially invisible.

  • It's under the road,

  • so no changes to the road surface,

  • no noise,

  • no additional use of space.

  • So if we look at the urban environment,

  • for example,

  • it makes more sense to have dedicated space

  • for pedestrians,

  • for cyclists,

  • to increase the amount of space for them

  • and to not have the focus

  • on the visible charging infrastructure.

  • In keeping with Nikola Tesla's egalitarian ideals,

  • ElectReon plans on sharing their solutions

  • with the world at large.

  • So our approach is a bit different.

  • We are going to offer the IPs

  • for free for a car manufacturer

  • in order to increase the adoption

  • of wireless charging.

  • This sort of open source IP sharing is typical

  • of the Silicon Valley set.

  • Elon Musk did the same in the hopes

  • of moving to a new generation of sustainable development.

  • As the rising tide does raise all ships.

  • ElectReon,

  • even as it proves its concept

  • and takes on more partners,

  • remains in its infancy.

  • There's still some questions

  • about the economics behind their product,

  • and if it's able to be deployed

  • around the world,

  • but they are picking up steam

  • with several projects in Europe

  • and plans to expand in the U.S.

  • and capture on President Biden's initiative to try

  • to ramp up EV infrastructure in the country.

  • That's a big if since there's no guarantee

  • that ElectReon will receive the benefits

  • of Biden's infrastructure plan,

  • not to mention that they're not the only game

  • in town.

  • Siemens eHighway,

  • Elways,

  • and ELONROAD

  • all claim to have commercial-ready electric road systems,

  • but the ElectReon team and their ambitions remain undeterred

  • by competition and held strong

  • by an unwavering faith in their core mission.

  • The real question is,

  • is what are we doing to limit the environmental impacts

  • of electric mobility?

  • How are we making it truly sustainable?

  • And that's how I was really able to get

  • behind the vision that the founders have here

  • and what they're trying to do.

  • And as for the daunting task of altering the world's roads

  • for wireless charging,

  • ElectReon is taking it one kilometer at a time.

  • When you start something that at the beginning

  • you need to put lots of effort

  • to start moving this change.

  • But once you are in motion,

  • then it will be much easier to move fast

  • and fast and accelerate.

Imagine it's the year 1900.

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