Discussion on:

With wireless power, charge your electric car while driving

Other gee whiz idea right up there with hydrogen vehicles and powering the transportation world with algae. The article has no validity without cost estimates. Remember where we are living, a country with massive debt and a shrinking middle class. Poorly written articles like this serve no useful purpose and just illustrate the delusions that a lot of folks labor under.

I tend to agree. A roadway system like this was tried decades ago at UC with DOE funding support. It worked briefly on a test track under ideal conditions, but failed miserably when applied to an asphalt roadway, in part due to weatherizing effects. Plus, the cost of installation and maintenance was exhorbitant. This is one of those dynamic technologies that sounds good in theory but falls far short of design goals when "the rubber meets the road." A more reasonable approach might be a fixed pad under an electric bus stop, where precise clearances can be maintained for proper inductive coupling

Several months ago, I thought about how we could fix the limitations of EV's. If only I could have patented this idea at the age of 15.

Imagine converting thousands of miles of road. Imagine the cost, cost which can go to other more pressing matters. I know that clean energy for transportation has a pretty priority, but this is just too extravagant. It's a nice thought experiment, and hey, who knows if we can get better shootoff technology.

Juan Miguel Ruiz (Going Green)
http://www.GreenJoyment.com

What I always wonder about this is how efficient is it compared to a directly plugged in charging source. That determines how cost effective it is.

Whilst efficiency for this type of charging is now around 85% there is still the serious problem of road wear. How often have you been diverted or delayed because of road repairs and what happens when the surface of the road is worn, or there is a need to repair what is under the road? Good idea but the infrastructure is a mess. With battery life improving and wtih recharge points where they are useful, this sort of mega structure will be worthless pretty quickly

You have to wonder about anybody being promoted as "it has proven successful in reliable mathematical simulations".... what kind of "proof" and "success" are we talking about here?

A better phrase: "mathematical simulations have been promising..."