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Honda’s system would transfer electricity from the road to moving vehicles.
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Logistics and commercial transport are its initial focus.
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Highway demonstrations are planned from Japan’s 2027 financial year onward.
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Costs, durability and performance still need further assessment.
October 05, (THEWILL) – Honda is preparing to test a charging system that could allow electric trucks to receive power without pulling off the road.
Working with construction company Taisei and road builder Taisei Rotec, the Japanese manufacturer has developed technology that transfers electricity from equipment beneath the pavement to receivers on moving vehicles. Announced on Monday, October 5, the project is heading towards demonstrations on Japan’s Tateyama Expressway from the financial year beginning April 2027 onward.
For transport operators, the potential attraction is fewer charging stops. Any increase in deliveries or reduction in operating costs will depend on how much energy trucks receive during a journey and what the infrastructure costs to use.
Honda is initially pursuing logistics and commercial transport applications, where charging requirements can be assessed against routes, loads and delivery schedules.
How Charging Moves Into Road
Instead of connecting a parked vehicle to a cable, the system uses magnetic coupling to transfer electricity between road transmitters and a vehicle-mounted receiver. Only vehicles with compatible equipment can use it.
Each partner contributes a different part of that arrangement. Honda develops the transmitting and receiving equipment, Taisei provides the electrical supply system, and Taisei Rotec works on embedding the hardware in the pavement.
Research-roadway tests have already taken place. Before wider use, however, the partners must examine how the equipment performs under repeated traffic, at high speeds and over extended periods.
Further testing will cover durability and electromagnetic leakage, alongside planned verification of power transfer at up to 150 kilowatts.
That figure is a testing objective, rather than a charging rate already available to commercial operators.
Power output alone will not establish how useful an equipped road is. A vehicle travelling over a short charging section has less time to receive energy than one using a longer stretch.
Consequently, route coverage and the energy delivered during each journey will be important alongside the headline power rating.
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Fewer Stops, But At What Cost?
Installing charging equipment beneath traffic also creates maintenance responsibilities. Road operators would need to keep both the pavement and electrical hardware serviceable, including when sections require repairs or resurfacing.
Those costs remain unresolved. A Honda engineer declined to compare the system’s expense with conventional high-speed charging networks, telling Reuters that economic viability still needed assessment.
For fleet owners, the comparison would include vehicle equipment, electricity charges and any time recovered from stationary charging. However, not every charging stop represents lost working time.
A truck that recharges during loading, unloading or a scheduled driver’s break may gain less from charging on the move than one that must interrupt a journey specifically to replenish its battery. Benefits could therefore vary considerably between operators.
Before the expressway demonstrations, the partners plan to build another test roadway at Taisei’s Tamura research facility, starting in late 2026.
Actual vehicles will be used for durability testing, alongside checks on power transfer and electromagnetic leakage. Honda has not announced a date for commercial operation.
Joy Onuorah is a business journalist and brand communications specialist covering financial markets, artificial intelligence, digital economy, and the ideas reshaping business across Africa and the global market. Beyond her reporting for TheWill, Joy uses brand strategy, storytelling, copywriting, and high-value SEO to help brands build lasting market authority.
