What if electric vehicles (EVs) could be charged by the very streets upon which they drive? That’s the idea behind ElectReon, an Israeli firm developing an in-road inductive charging system that powers EVs via electrical fields generated by coils under the asphalt, similar to how a wireless charger juices your phone. In part, the company’s goal is to allow EVs to carry smaller batteries—or, perhaps, none at all—thereby making them lighter and more efficient, as well as reducing the environmental costs of battery production. “Everyone is trying to improve the battery; we started to think about removing the problem,” says co-founder and CEO Oren Ezer. The company is conducting tests in Germany, Italy and Sweden, and in October inked a $9.4 million deal to charge electric buses in Tel Aviv. —Alex Fitzpatrick
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