AbstractsTransportation

This thesis presents the implementation of Inductive Power Transfer on the A12 in the Netherlands. On-road inductive power transfer allows electric vehicles to charge while driving. This technology can realize higher driving ranges of vehicles, but also allows decreasing the battery size what would result in a higher performance of the vehicle. Power is transfered from the inverter to the primary coil. Via an electromagnetic flux field, energy is transfered via an air gap to the pickup of the vehicle. The pickup transfers the energy to the motor or the battery. Municipalities want to reduce the amount of fossil fueled vehicles in their cities and stimulate the use of electric vehicles. Though the biggest threshold for consumers is the low driving range of the electric vehicle. The current electric vehicles, apart from Tesla, have an average driving range of 100-130km. This is perfect for daily transportation within the city, but does not allow the vehicle to go far in one drive or unplanned trips. Driving from The Hague to Nijmegen, a very common daily journey for many Dutch people, the electric vehicle would need a 30-minute recharge just after Utrecht. The low driving range and long ‘refueling’ of the vehicles cause discomfort, so called ‘range anxiety’, among its users and is the biggest reason for other drivers to choose an other type of vehicle. In 2030 the share of full autonomous vehicles will be more than 10% and will first be introduced on the highway before they will be allowed to drive full autonomous in cities. The autonomous vehicle will decrease the number of road accidents and the traffic jams on the highway. The autonomous vehicle will also be used for shared vehicle services. Although the vehicles will be shared more often, the amount of traffic will not decrease since the target group for full autonomous vehicles will increase. More people will be able/allowed to use this type of vehicle. The vehicles will also cover 10% more of the current average distances, due to shared services. On-road charging will not only decrease range anxiety, it will also support the growth of autonomous electric vehicles and their shared services. n this thesis the design is worked out for the A12 in the Netherlands. The A12 is one of the highways in the Netherlands with a daily high density of traffic that covers long distances (more than 100km in one journey). This highway runs horizontally across the middle of the Netherlands and connects citizens of multiple big Dutch cities together. Travelling along the A12 the user will find himself in many different landscapes with different impressions. The design proposal in this thesis focuses on the use of autonomous electric vehicles in 2030. The combination of both technological developments allows the user to feel completely free on the highway; the user does not have to keep an eye on the road and does not have to worry about the range of the vehicle. Therefore the design proposal is based on the following vision: The design of the inductive power transfer… Advisors/Committee Members: Silvester, S., Zijlstra, J..