New CFX road technology will wirelessly charge electric vehicles

ORLANDO, Fla. - A team from Utah State University's ASPIRE project is working with Central Florida Expressway (CFXWay) authorities to lay cables under the asphalt in the new Lake-Orange Expressway. 

The cables will allow specially-equipped electric vehicles to charge wirelessly as they drive on the road.

"Folks driving the Lake-Orange Expressway when it opens in 2025 really probably won't notice any difference from any other road on our expressway system," said Brian Hutchings, a CFXWay spokesman. 

Regardless, Hutchings said they would be there, wirelessly charging the electric vehicles of the near future that will be built to use this technology.

"As you're driving at highway speed in an electric vehicle, it will charge the vehicle as you're driving without having to stop and plug it in," Hutchings said.

The Lake-Orange Expressway will link US 27 with County Road 429, a $500 million project beginning later this year. 

"The need is really to keep up with the explosive growth that is occurring in central Florida," Hutchings said.

One end of the new five-mile road will be near Horizon West. Since it's a pilot project, only about one mile of the road will have wireless charging capability. At first, only certain vehicles equipped with wireless charging technology will be able to power-up on the road, but electric vehicle drivers say it would be great to cruise on a charge that never ends. 

"If it charged while you were driving, maybe you'd never stop," said Vince Suich, who drives a Tesla, "just keep going and going!"

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