This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Blake Dollier spoke excitedly as he watched the construction crews pulverize concrete along a quarter-mile stretch of US Highway 52 where it passes through West Lafayette, Indiana.
Soon, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), where Dollier works as the public relations director, will install a series of copper coils under the highway’s surface to test a new technology Purdue University researchers developed that can provide power to electric vehicles wirelessly as they drive past.
“Wouldn’t it really be something if we could just drive over the road and catch your charge for your vehicle as you drive across it?” Dollier said during a phone interview, watching the progress from the parking lot of one of the department’s satellite offices in West Lafayette.
The state began construction of its new pilot project this month, and officials say they believe it could spur greater adoption of EVs and redefine …