Honda Tests Wireless Highway Charging for Heavy Trucks

Honda is getting ready to put wireless charging tech on public highways for moving trucks. The automaker says its first move will target commercial transportation rather than regular passenger cars. Honda R&D, along with construction firms Taisei Corporation and Taisei Rotec Corporation, built the system behind this announcement released Monday. Power units sit under the asphalt while receivers mount on vehicles to send electricity wirelessly as a truck drives by.

Drivers could stop less often at stations or skip home charging entirely if this works. The logistics sector gets priority for early use. These three partners have studied the wireless road concept since 2025 and already ran tests on a private track. Their work involved paving roads with equipment tough enough to handle heavy commercial vehicles weighing about 20 tons.

More testing starts late 2026 at a Taisei Group site. The teams will check durability, how well power transfers wirelessly, and steps to stop electromagnetic field leaks. Future tests push output up to 150 kilowatts for big trucks and prove the system works when cars speed along. Next comes a public-road demo during Japan's fiscal year beginning April 1, 2027. That event joins the "Tateyama Project," an effort by East Nippon Expressway Company on the Tateyama Expressway in Chiba.

Honda has chased dynamic wireless power-transfer since 2021 as part of a larger push to grow EV charging options. One question remains: can installing these road chargers make economic sense? A Honda engineer told Reuters they cannot say how costs stack up against fast-charging networks yet. The company insists the technology needs full assessment before declaring it viable.