Honda is exploring a system in which electric trucks keep driving while the road supplies power beneath them. The company wants to move that idea from controlled testing to public highway trials in Japan.
Here's what to know
Honda, Taisei Corp., and Taisei Rotec are preparing public-road testing for a dynamic wireless charging system for electric vehicles, Motor1 reported. The first trials will target logistics and commercial trucks during Japan's 2027 fiscal year, which begins April 1.
Transmitter coils installed under the pavement would deliver power, with a receiver mounted beneath the vehicle collecting energy from the magnetic field. Honda is responsible for the hardware on both the roadway and vehicle sides, and its system uses direct current.
According to Honda, its equipment is the first to combine the inverter and the coil in a single unit. The company says this design reduces the number of components and limits the roadwork needed for each installation, per Motor1.
For the rest of the infrastructure, Taisei is developing a responsive DC power supply to feed the coils. Meanwhile, Taisei Rotec is working on ways to install the system in existing pavement without weakening the road surface.
More background
Honda has been working on dynamic wireless power transfer since 2021, and since 2025 it has concentrated on this magnetic-coupling approach with Taisei and Taisei Rotec. It also runs Honda Charge in Japan, but that network is separate from the in-road charging concept, according to Motor1.
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Public-highway deployment depends first on showing that the embedded hardware can survive the demands of heavy commercial traffic. On a Taisei test road in Satte, the pavement and in-road equipment proved capable of supporting vehicles that weighed 44,000 pounds, matching the heavier trucks targeted in the initial phase.
A more demanding trial is planned for late this year at Taisei's T-Field/Tamura site. There, real vehicles are expected to subject the system to 1 million wheel-load cycles at 11,000 pounds per wheel, condensing years of wear into a shorter test window, Motor1 noted.
The engineers also plan to measure electromagnetic-field leakage, push output to as much as 150 kilowatts for large commercial vehicles, and see whether charging remains stable at highway speeds.
What's being done?
If the durability and safety work goes well, the partners expect to take part in the Tateyama Project in fiscal year 2027. That East Nippon Expressway Co. program covers a 300-meter stretch of the E14 Tateyama Expressway near the Kimitsu rest area in Chiba, per Motor1.
Honda is prioritizing logistics and commercial trucks because cutting charging stops could help them quickly, and their weight also makes them useful for durability testing. If those truck trials validate the system, the company believes its future electric SUVs could use the same technology.
That still leaves two practical hurdles: the cost of building a charging road and whether maintaining it can be economically viable at scale.
Where can I learn more?
These articles highlight other groups testing similar wireless EV charging technology.
• In Indiana, officials broke ground on a highway project that charges electric cars while they drive.
• Engineers are testing wireless EV charging on highways as a backup to unreliable plug-in stations.
• Tesla signaled interest in wireless charging for EVs that could eliminate cable handling.
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