Sizing Methodology of Dynamic Wireless Charging Infrastructures for Electric Vehicles in Highways: An Italian Case Study

The necessity of pushing the road mobility towards more sustainable solutions has become of undeniable importance in last years. For this reason, both research and industry are constantly investigating new technologies able to make the usage of battery electric vehicles(BEV) as accessible and usable as traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). One of the most limiting issues concerns the short range of electric vehicles, which complicates their use for long distances, such as for highway travels. A promising solution seems to be the “charge-while-driving” approach, by exploiting the inductive dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) technology. Nevertheless, such systems show different issues, first of all, high investment and maintenance costs. Furthermore, it is not clear how extensive a potential dynamic wireless charging infrastructure needs to be to make a real advantage for electric vehicle drivers. As a consequence, the aim of this paper is to introduce a new methodology to estimate the number and length of wireless charging sections necessary to allow the maximum number of electric vehicles to travel a specific highway without the need to stop for a recharge at a service area. Specifically, the methodology is based on a algorithm that, starting by real traffic data, simulates vehicle flows and defines the basic layout of the wireless charging infrastructure. This simulator can provide a decision support tool for highway road operators.