Automotive Engineering - August 2022 - 6

TECHNOLOGY REPORT
ELECTRIFICATION
Wireless road charging for EVs to debut
mid-decade
Side-view mirrors have emerged as serious
wind-noise sources for occupants of EV
cabins. Many OEMs are considering replacing
bulky exterior assemblies with sleeker
camera-mirror housings.
Lee Rodgers, principal engineer, Drive
Systems Design, added that incumbent
automakers with considerable vertical
integration are likely to find NVH management
more difficult if they now look to
suppliers for major EV components such
as traction motors, transmissions and
even battery packs. The situation is likely
to place more emphasis on whole-vehicle
and component simulation models.
Sim is a win
VI-Grade's Hodgkins said increasingly
sophisticated simulation software can
create sound-signature models that can
allow suppliers to compare components
head-to-head, but also for their contribution
to whole-vehicle NVH. These
simulations can be critical in determining
if there's justifiable customer value
in choosing a more-expensive, NVHoptimized
component, he said, adding
that human determination of sound differences
- at many levels of development
and even by customers in clinics
- can be difficult to quantify. Hodgkins
said " acoustic amnesia " can render
back-to-back comparisons ineffective,
even if they occur in a short timeframe.
The best use of simulation models is
to help inform design changes, added
Auria's Pan, saying that some OEMs are
branding sound signatures that provide
developers with guidance for tailoring
NVH for an EV. Faraday Future's Dreher
perhaps best summarized the panel's
discussion by saying, " We're not trying
to kill the sound, we're trying to design
the sound. "
Bill Visnic
6 August 2022
Roadway-embedded wireless charging
for electric vehicles is coming to a
stretch of urban highway in Detroit,
marking a pilot-program first on a U.S.
public road. " Our electric vehicle receiver
units are modular and compatible
with passenger vehicles and with
light-, medium- and heavy-duty commercial
vehicles, " said Oren Ezer, CEO
of Electreon, based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Michigan is expected to operate the
first electrified roadway in early 2025.
Electreon's patented wireless in-road
EV charging technology already is in use
with various European demonstration
projects, including a 0.7-mile (1.05-km)
intercity toll road in Italy and a 1-mile
(1.65-km) public road in Sweden.
Sweden's policymakers aim to have 1,243
miles (2,000 km) of electrified roadway
in operation by 2030. Detroit's electrified
roadway will be near Michigan Central, a
mobility-innovation district under development
by Ford Motor Co.
" The wireless charging infrastructure
will support a suite of use cases involving
various vehicle types, including autonomous
vehicles, and it will support partners,
like Ford, " noted Jim Buczkowski,
the company's executive director of
Research and Advance Engineering.
Cloud-based system monitoring
The $1.9 million-plus Michigan project
involves one lane of public roadway for
a minimum of one mile (1.6 km). As of
mid-May, the Michigan Dept. of
Transportation (MDOT) was doing a
feasibility study on electrifying a section
of Michigan Avenue and/or 14th
Street in Detroit's Corktown district.
After the existing road surface is removed,
rubber-coated copper coil segments
will be buried 3.15 inches (8 cm)
under a new road surface. " Non-electric
vehicles are able to use the roadway as
usual without any disruption, " said Dr.
Stefan Tongur, Electreon's VP.
The roadway's coil segments transmit
power to an EV undercarriagemounted
receiver via magnetic resonance
induction as the EV moves or is
Electreon has integrated its technology at the " Arena of the future " project in Brescia, Italy.
Shown are an Iveco electric bus and a Fiat 500-e being charged while driving.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
FROM TOP: HONDA; ELECTREON

Automotive Engineering - August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - August 2022