On a quarter-mile stretch of Midwestern highway, an electric semi-truck has quietly crossed a threshold that once sounded like science fiction: it took on power from the road itself while cruising at highway speed. Instead of pulling into a depot and plugging in, the truck drew current from coils buried under the asphalt, turning the pavement into a moving charger. That proof of concept hints at a future where long-haul freight can keep rolling while batteries refill in motion, reshaping how I think about electric trucking, infrastructure, and even what it means to “fuel up.”
The achievement is not a lab curiosity. It is a full-scale, heavy-duty rig running at 65 miles per hour on a real U.S. highway, using a system designed for the brutal realities of freight: multi-ton loads, long distances, and tight delivery windows. If this model scales, it could chip away at one of the biggest barriers to electric trucks, the fear that batteries will run dry far from the next charger.
How a quarter-mile of Indiana pavement made EV history
The breakthrough unfolded on a test segment of U.S. Highway 52 in West Lafayette, Indiana, where researchers embedded power-transmitting hardware beneath the road surface and paired it with a specially equipped electric semitractor. Instead of relying on overhead wires or roadside chargers, the system sends energy wirelessly from coils in the pavement to receivers on the truck as it passes overhead. In practical terms, that means the truck can gain range while staying in its lane at full speed, turning a routine stretch of asphalt into a live demonstration of dynamic charging.
The project is formally described as the first highway segment in the United States to wirelessly charge an electric heavy-duty truck while driving, a milestone that has been detailed by researchers in Indiana. The test used an electric Cummins heavy-duty truck and a quarter-mile installation that was purpose-built to validate that the technology works at real highway speeds, not just in slow-moving urban traffic or controlled test loops. That combination of a production-scale truck and a standard highway environment is what elevates this from a lab experiment to a credible preview of future freight corridors.
The truck, the tech, and the 65 m benchmark
At the heart of the demonstration is an electric Cummins heavy-duty truck, a full-size semitractor that represents the kind of vehicle fleets actually use to haul freight across states. The truck was outfitted with receiver hardware tuned to pick up energy from the coils embedded in the road, then convert that energy into usable power for its battery and drivetrain. Instead of stopping at a megawatt charger, the driver simply maintained speed while the system quietly topped up the pack, a scenario that aligns with how long-haul operators already plan their routes and schedules.
The key performance headline is that Purdue’s test highway wirelessly charged an electric semi at 65 m, a speed that matches typical interstate traffic and proves the system can function under real-world conditions. That same test segment on U.S. Highway 52/U.S. Highway 231 was built by the Indiana Department of Transportation and is explicitly aimed at heavy-duty EV charging and transportation, not just passenger cars. By hitting that speed target with a full-size rig, the team has set a benchmark that other dynamic charging projects will now be measured against.
Inside the coils: how dynamic wireless charging actually works
Under the asphalt, the system relies on a series of coils that create an electromagnetic field when energized, which is then captured by matching coils mounted under the truck. When the vehicle passes over each segment, the field couples with the receiver, transferring power without any physical contact. The control electronics must detect the truck, modulate the power, and hand off from one coil segment to the next in fractions of a second, all while the vehicle is moving at highway speed and the road is exposed to weather, traffic loads, and temperature swings.
A team of Purdue University researchers, including the Edmund O. Schweitzer, III Professor, ECE, developed this patent-pending dynamic wireless power transfer system and have already been recognized with a Technology Innovation Award for the highway charging technology, as detailed in their explanation of how the technology works. In public demonstrations, Purdue University researchers have shown that the system can deliver power at full highway speed, with a reel highlighting how they demonstrated a patent-pending dynamic wireless power transfer system on a quarter-mile segment, tagged with Purdue University researchers and INDOT. That combination of academic engineering and real-world infrastructure expertise is what makes the system feel less like a gadget and more like a plausible backbone for future freight corridors.
The Indiana partnership powering the project
None of this happens without a tight partnership between transportation officials and university engineers, and Indiana has leaned into that collaboration. The Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue have been working together on what is formally described as the Wireless EV Charging Highway Project, an effort that brings road builders, power utilities, and researchers into the same planning room. That alignment matters because dynamic charging is not just a technology problem, it is a civil engineering and policy challenge that touches everything from lane closures to grid interconnections.
Earlier planning documents describe how The Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue Lead an INDOT, Purdue Lead, Wireless EV Charging Highway Project with an $11 million budget over four to five years, underscoring that this is not a one-off demo but a multi-year buildout. INDOT Commissioner Lyndsay Quist has publicly framed the work as a way to position Indiana as a leader in heavy-duty EV infrastructure, and the agency has backed that rhetoric with concrete construction on U.S. Highway 52 and U.S. Highway 231. By tying the project to a major freight corridor rather than a closed test track, the state is signaling that it expects this technology to graduate into everyday logistics.
From lab to lane: what the highway test actually proved
For me, the most important part of the story is not that the coils work in theory, but that a real truck on a real road took on meaningful power at speed. Reporting on the trial notes that an electric Cummins heavy-duty truck charged as it drove along a test segment on U.S. Highway 52 in West Lafayette, with the system designed to deliver power levels comparable to the electricity consumption of 100 average homes. That kind of throughput is essential if dynamic charging is going to make a dent in the energy needs of a loaded semi, which can easily draw hundreds of kilowatts under acceleration or on grades.
Additional coverage of the test highlights that the road was able to send up to 190 kilowatts to the truck, a figure that puts it in the same league as many stationary fast chargers used by passenger EVs today. In one account, writer Olivia Richman describes how the road can wirelessly charge an electric semi at highway speed and notes that the system delivered up to 190 kilowatts to the truck, a level that, if sustained over longer distances, could dramatically reduce how often a driver needs to stop. For fleets that live and die by utilization rates, the ability to turn drive time into charge time is not a novelty, it is a potential competitive edge.
Why heavy-duty trucks are the proving ground
It is no accident that this first-of-its-kind highway segment is focused on a semitractor rather than a compact hatchback. Heavy-duty trucks are responsible for a disproportionate share of road emissions and fuel consumption, and they face the toughest constraints when it comes to electrification. Batteries large enough to give a Class 8 truck 500 or 600 miles of range are heavy and expensive, and the downtime required to recharge them at depots can eat into driver hours and asset utilization. Dynamic charging offers a way to shrink the onboard battery while still delivering the effective range fleets need.
Indiana’s test segment on U.S. Highway 52/U.S. Highway 231 was explicitly built to support heavy-duty EV charging and transportation, a point emphasized in coverage that describes how the stretch of U.S. Highway 52, 231 was constructed by the Indiana Department of Transportation and designed for heavy-duty EV charging and transportation. By starting with the hardest use case, the project effectively sets a high bar: if the system can survive the axle loads, duty cycles, and uptime expectations of freight carriers, it will be far easier to adapt it to lighter vehicles later. That is why I see this as more than a trucking story; it is a stress test for the entire concept of electrified roadways.
Recognition, reels, and the public rollout
Technical milestones only matter if they are communicated clearly to the people who will fund, regulate, and eventually drive over them, and the Indiana team has been deliberate about showing its work. Social clips have circulated showing the electric semi gliding over the test segment while on-screen captions explain that Indiana builds EV truck charging into the highway itself, with the system framed as a way to enable charging for more vehicle types over time. Those visuals help translate abstract engineering into something a fleet manager or skeptical driver can grasp in a few seconds of scrolling.
One widely shared reel notes that Researchers at Purdue University have successfully demonstrated a wireless charging highway system and tags it with phrases like “Indiana builds EV truck charging” and “charging for more vehicle types,” underscoring the ambition to move beyond a single truck model or use case. That clip, which highlights how Researchers at Purdue University pulled off the demo, sits alongside more formal announcements that describe the project as the first highway segment in the U.S. to wirelessly charge an electric heavy-duty truck while driving, with an electric semitractor provided by Cummins. That mix of social proof and formal recognition, including the IEEE Technology Innovation Award, is helping to build momentum behind what might otherwise be dismissed as a niche experiment.
What it could mean for the future of freight
As I look at the Indiana project, I see more than a clever way to charge a single truck. I see a potential blueprint for how freight corridors might evolve if policymakers decide to invest in electrified pavement instead of, or alongside, massive stationary charging hubs. A corridor equipped with dynamic charging could allow trucks to run smaller batteries, which would cut vehicle weight and cost, while still maintaining long-haul range. It could also smooth out grid demand by spreading charging over many miles and hours instead of concentrating it at a few depots during peak times.
The fact that INDOT is proud to partner with Purdue on this project, as Commissioner Lyndsay Quist has emphasized, signals that state transportation leaders see strategic value in being early. In official statements, INDOT has highlighted how an electric Cummins heavy-duty truck was able to charge while driving on the highway segment, crediting the work of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and its Edmund O. Schweitzer, III Professor, ECE and colleagues. If other states follow Indiana’s lead, the map of U.S. freight could eventually include designated “charging lanes” where trucks quietly sip power at speed, turning the simple act of driving down the road into the primary way they refuel.
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