Don't Stop to Charge, Charge Where You Stop: Wireless Charging in Traffic Flow

The widespread proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) in urban mo-bility necessitates innovative and efficient charging infrastructure solutions. In this context, idle waiting times at traffic lights, which constitute a significant portion of urban driving time, present a potential opportunity for energy recov-ery rather than inefficiency. This study evaluates the impact and feasibility of opportunistic wireless charging systems integrated into dynamic traffic flow on the energy balance of EVs using a real-world city simulation model. Simulation results show that, without requiring any change in driver behavior, evaluating idle times alone could cover 6.4% of the average energy consumption per vehi-cle. These results, achieved even with current SAE J2954 charging capacities, indicate the system's potential to recover a significant portion of the energy consumed during travel with future higher power capacities.