Efficient wireless stationary bidirectional charging solutions for road Light Duty Vehicles (2ZERO Partnership) – Societal Readiness Pilot

Project results are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:

• Bidirectional, interoperable low-power wireless (i.e., inductive) stationary charging solutions and services are demonstrated in operational environment for Light Duty Vehicle (vehicle category M1 and N1), with significantly reduced losses of power transfer reaching at least 90% power transfer efficiency in both directions and increased robustness against humidity and dirt, and in all weather conditions (including rain, snow and ice);
• Enhanced electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) within health and safety limits conforming to international standards (e.g. SAE J2954, IEC 61980-1/-2/-3, CISPR 11 and ISO 19363) as well as avoiding interference with relevant telecommunication regulations and Low Frequency(LF)-based navigation systems (e.g., eLORAN);
• Enhanced social acceptance of automatic park and charge functionalities with increased comfort and complete cost/benefit assessment at system-level for acceptable costs;
• Demonstration of the solutions and their efficient integration into the electricity grid in on-street parking (and optionally in parking lots), incorporating advanced V2X technologies to ensure seamless interaction between the vehicles and energy systems to enhance the robustness and efficiency of the wireless charging solutions;
• Deeper understanding of the needs and concerns of diverse social groups involved in or potentially affected by the R&I development (e.g. employing synthetic population models and tools), thereby increasing the potential for beneficial societal uptake and building trust in results and outcomes.

Wireless stationary charging for road light duty vehicles can be a solution to minimise the intrusiveness of the charging infrastructures, which is critical in urban environments. Moreover, it can provide the EV user with a hands-free way of charging, which is of particular benefit for people with disabilities or other weaknesses. The holistic system approach of EV integration into electricity grids entails bi-directional power between EV and the grid to maximise the battery capacity exploitation for grid-and market-oriented services. Recent progress on wireless bidirectionality of charging technologies motivates the need for additional demonstrations with further improved efficiency^[1]. The focus of this topic is the development of the charging system, the integration of the system into the vehicle and its demonstration in real life operations. Limited optimisations concerning on-board systems not directly related to the wireless charging (e.g. BMS and battery) may be included if properly justified.

Proposals are expected to address all the following aspects:

• Design, develop and demonstrate cost-effective, standardised, safe, visually not intrusive, efficient technologies, solutions and user-centric services offered for bi-directional automatic wireless charging for road Light Duty Vehicles;
• Investigate ways to maximise efficiency through charging plate and power electronic design and positioning (such as auto-positioning of vehicle and/or transmitters/receivers) to increase comfort and social responsiveness of parking and stationary charging;
• Avoid detrimental effects from obstacles such as garbage or amounts of dirt that might interfere with the power transfer and/or might cause damage;
• Efficient system integration of bidirectional wireless charging infrastructures and services to support Renewable Energy Sources (RES) deployment, grid balancing, and investments analysis, making use of generative AI where beneficially applicable;
• Analyse the environmental footprint of the solution following a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach including reuse, repair and recycling/recovery, in particular to reduce use of critical raw materials, and perform a Costs-and-Benefits analysis on the development and the deployment of the proposed solutions;
• Demonstrate solutions and services in at least three different urban areas (peri-urban and/or rural are excluded) within Horizon Europe participating countries considering different climatic conditions and for a period of at least three months;
• Exploitation of synergies with projects related to the Software-Defined Vehicle of the Future^[2] is encouraged where applicable.

This topic is a Societal-Readiness pilot:

• Proposals should follow the instructions applying to the Societal readiness pilot, as described in the introduction of the Horizon Europe Main Work Programme 2025 for Climate, Energy and Mobility. They entail the use of an interdisciplinary approach to deepening consideration and responsiveness of research and innovation activities to societal needs and concerns.
• This topic requires effective contribution of the relevant SSH expertise, including the involvement of SSH experts in the consortium, to meaningfully support Societal Readiness. Specifically, SSH expertise is expected to facilitate the socio-technological interface and enable the design of project objectives with Societal Readiness related activities.

The project(s) should contribute to the activities of existing working groups for the definition of standards for EV wireless charging.

The project(s) should take account Open Science, its practices and learning, and the project’s results will be enacted in line with FAIR principles for data^[3].

Proposals should consider the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) whose contribution could consists of performing experimental or desk-top research on Electromagnetic Compliance and Safety.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Towards zero emission road transport’ (2ZERO). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership ‘Towards zero emission road transport’ (2ZERO) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.

[1] As examples, see projects funded under call FP7-TRANSPORT GC.SST.2013-1 and H2020- LC-GV-03-2019

[2] See Call HORIZON-KDT-JU-2023-3-CSA-IA, HORIZON-CL5-2024-D5-01-05 and HORIZON-JU-Chips-2024-1-IA-T3

[3] Final Report and Action Plan from the European Commission Expert Group on FAIR Data, “TURNING FAIR INTO REALITY” - https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/7769a148-f1f6-11e8-9982-01aa75ed71a1/language-en