NUREMBERG (dpa-AFX) - The German government is testing the charging of electric cars while driving on the A6 motorway in Bavaria. Autobahn GmbH and Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg gave the go-ahead for the research project on the one-kilometer test track between the Amberg-Sulzbach and Amberg-West exits. The charging coils are hidden under the road surface, and the electricity is transferred inductively – i.e. wirelessly – to the battery via special receivers. The electric car charging system was not developed by a German company, but by the Israeli company Electreon.

Electreon charging routes are planned or already in operation in several countries, including Israel, the USA, France, Italy, and China. There has also been an Electreon test track in Germany, albeit a much shorter one, but not on a motorway, rather at the Baden-Württemberg electricity supplier EnBW in Karlsruhe.

According to a statement, Bavaria's Minister of Science Markus Blume and Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann (both CSU) were present at the launch. "The efficiency is over 90 percent and we are achieving completely unimagined possibilities," said Blume. "Range problems are being solved." According to Electreon, the previous record for an inductively charged electric car was just under 2,000 kilometers.

Main target group: buses and trucks

According to the company, the technology has been successfully tested at speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. However, the vehicles must be equipped with the appropriate receivers. The main target group is not private car owners, but companies in public transport and the transport industry. /cho/DP/stw