Episode 12

Elonroad CEO Karin Ebbinghaus: Building electric roads and boosting electric cars' range

Published on: 7th October, 2022

Earlier this year, the European Union approved ending the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2035 to reach the carbon emission targets by 2050. This means, from 2035 on, you will only be able to buy electric vehicles. And while EVs have seen an impressive leap in reach and accessibility in the last decade, there are still many things to buff out to allow for widespread adoption.

High on the list of those issues are a lacking charging infrastructure, reach and grid overloading when too many people want to charge their cars simultaneously.

One way could be electric roads, where the car is being charged while driving. With such a solution, one would increase reach, reduce necessary battery size and with that reduce the entry price for new car owners. And on top of that, the maths check out that on lowering grid load.

However, Karin Ebbinghaus, CEO of Elonroad sees an additional reason to work on their contact-based electric roads: Electric roads would make life much easier, without the necessary hassle of plugging in your car.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:05 What is restricting full electrical vehicle adoption?

2:37 The motivation behind Elonroad

4:25 Contact vs. Induction

6:27 Benefits and problems of electrical roads

8:49 Rasons why car manufacturers haven't adopted as quickly

10:35 How to make electric roads reliable

13:14 Core technology behind Elonroad

14:45 Electric roads for commercial operators

15:47 Current trial tracks and figuring out where to place the electric roads

16:55 Impact of electric roads on truckers