Although the idea of charging electric cars and buses on roads is not new, it has proven costly and inefficient. Autoblog reported that Indiana's Department of Transport (INDOT), has begun testing a new cement type with embedded magnetized particles. This could eventually provide high-speed charging at standard roadbuilding costs.INDOT is collaborating with Purdue University, Germany's Magment and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund the project. The research will be done in three phases. First, they'll test if magnetized cement (called "magment" naturally) works in the laboratory, and then, they'll try it on a quarter mile of road.Magment claimed that its product has a "record-breaking wireless transmission efficiency [at]] up to 95%," and added that it can be constructed at "standard road-building costs" and is "robust, vandalism-proof." Magment also noted that slabs with embedded ferrite particles can be made locally, possibly under license.INDOT claims that the final phase will be ambitious. It would test "the innovative concretes capability to charge heavy trucks at high power (200 Kilowatts or more). INDOT will electrify a section of Indiana's public interstate if the quarter-mile track passes.Although it would be a breakthrough in environmental protection if heavy trucks could be powered directly from the road, without polluting and at a reasonable price, there is still much to be done to prove that it works. Similar efforts are ongoing, such as the UK's $780 million investment in under-road charging research. Sweden also tried a slot-car technology similar to the one used in Sweden, which would include an electrified rail embedded into roads. If it meets Magment's requirements, this latest effort sounds much simpler.
