UPS will charge its electric vans with inductive charging in Detroit

The logistics company UPS has started testing a wireless charging system for electric cars developed by the Israeli company Electreon. The trials are taking place in Detroit, Michigan and include integrating the technology into an Xos Stepvan truck used at a UPS depot.

The project received funding from the Michigan Mobility Funding Platform (MMFP), which allocated $200,000. As part of the experiment, Electreon will install a stationary wireless charging system in the depot, which will be used to recharge the trucks at night. The exact characteristics of the system, including the capacity of the charging stations and their number, have not yet been disclosed.

The main purpose of the test is to assess how much the implementation of wireless charging will help reduce the costs of operating the UPS electric fleet by reducing downtime for recharging.

This project is a continuation of the Electreon initiative in Detroit, which previously introduced the first US “electric road”. Such a system uses inductive coils embedded in the road surface, which allow electric vehicles to be charged while they are moving, providing promising solutions for the logistics and transport of the future.