Uninterrupted power supply

EV drivers in the US state of Florida will soon have reason to celebrate: while other drivers listen to music and kill time as their EV charges, they’ll be able to simply enjoy the ride and charge on the go thanks to the “Next Generation Electric Roadway Systems” developed by a Norwegian company.

Commissioned by the government, the company has integrated electric coils into 1.6 km of the four-lane State Route 516 near Orlando. Electric cars equipped with the appropriate receiver pads can charge their batteries along the route with up to 200 kilowatts (kW) of charging power. On a route that runs entirely on the highway, this would increase the range of a Tesla Model 3 Long Range by up to 30%. That’s around 100 additional kilometers the EV could travel. Of course, the roadway system isn’t designed just for Teslas, but for a range of vehicle and battery types.

Germany is planning a similar project. In cooperation with various companies and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, a one-kilometer stretch of highway in northern Bavaria is to be equipped with inductive charging technology. Its charging capacity is expected to be up to 125 kW.

Projects like these require large quantities of raw materials. You need a range of different production-critical metals—both for the electric coils embedded in the road surface and for the large-scale expansion and conversion of entire vehicle fleets. With a tax-free investment in technology metals and rare earths, you’ll be well prepared!