ELECTRIC VEHICLE ON ELECTRIFIED ROADWAY

POWERED WHILE RUNNING "EVER-PWR"

Takashi Ohira

Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan

ohira@tut.jp

Abstract: Electric vehicles (EVs) are strongly expected to replace gasoline-engine motors as a green transportation.

However, currently used EVs have inherent disadvantages such as too short cruising range by one charge,

too long time of battery charging, too heavy weight, and too high maintaining cost. These are all due to

bulky batteries onboard. To overcome those problems, there are many attempts to apply the power-while-

running scheme like the electric railway to electric vehicles. One approach to this scheme is the magnetic

coupling between two coils, which was first demonstrated in MIT and worldwide known as wireless

electricity. This approach may be useful for charging the vehicles when they are staying at the parking lot or

some facility. It would be difficult to keep a high power transfer efficiency when the vehicle is running.

This is because the coils must be accurately placed to have a common axis to obtain a high efficiency. This

lecture presents a novel scheme to achieve a high transfer power efficiency even while the vehicle is

running. The idea stems from the railway, but how can it be done without an overhead wire? We focus on

the tire with a built-in steel belt, which always touches a road on the surface. Supposing a pair of electrodes

just beneath the road surface, the steel belt can pick up the power through displacement current in the tire.

This scheme is called Electric Vehicle on Electrified Roadway Powered While Running or "EVER-PWR".

The audience may say is it really feasible. So the lecture shows a spectacular demonstration at least in a

video on the screen. As a measurement result using a scale model of EVER-PWR, an incredible power

transfer efficiency exceeding 77% is exhibited. This is a major step toward the development of quite

promising green vehicle technology for our sustainable future.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Takashi Ohira received the B.E. and D.E. degrees in

communication engineering from Osaka University,

Osaka, Japan, in 1978 and 1983. In 1983, he joined

NTT Electrical Communication Laboratories,

Yokosuka, Japan, where he was engaged in research

on monolithic integration of microwave

semiconductor devices and circuits. He developed

GaAs MMIC transponder modules and microwave

beamforming networks aboard Japanese domestic

multibeam communication satellites, Engineering

Test Satellite VI (ETS-VI) and ETS-VIII, at NTT

Wireless Systems Laboratories, Yokosuka, Japan.

Since 1999, he has been engaged in research on

wireless ad-hoc networks and microwave analog

adaptive antennas aboard consumer electronic

devices at ATR Adaptive Communications Research

Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan. Concurrently he was a

Consulting Engineer for National Space

Development Agency (NASDA) ETS-VIII Project

in 1999, and an Invited Lecturer for Osaka

University from 2000 to 2001. From 2005, he was

Director of ATR Wave Engineering Laboratories,

Kyoto, Japan. Currently, he is Professor of

Toyohashi University of Technology. He coauthored

Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (Tokyo:

IEICE, 1997). Prof. Ohira was awarded the 1986

IEICE Shinohara Prize, the 1998 APMC Prize, and

the 2004 IEICE Electronics Society Prize. He serves

as European Microwave Association Award

Councilor and IEICE Microwave Technical Group

President. He is an IEEE Fellow, Founder of IEEE

MTT-S Kansai Chapter, and Founder of IEEE MTT-

S Nagoya Chapter.

Ohira T.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE ON ELECTRIFIED ROADWAY POWERED WHILE RUNNING "EVER-PWR".

DOI: 10.5220/0005413200150015

In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Telecommunications and Remote Sensing (ICTRS 2012), page 15

ISBN: 978-989-8565-28-0