Florida is building a $500,000,000 highway that will charge electric cars as they drive along it
Published on Dec 30, 2025 at 4:22 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Dec 30, 2025 at 4:22 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Claire Reid
Officials in Florida are investing more than $540 million into a new expressway that will be able to wirelessly charge electric vehicles.
The expressway will measure 4.4 miles and will connect the counties of Lake and Orange.
As well as helping to make travel between the two counties easier, the State Road 516 Lake/Orange Expressway will serve as a ‘revolutionary testbed’ for in-vehicle charging.
Unlike standard EV charging networks, the road will work wirelessly, meaning motorists only need to drive over it to get a boost in battery.
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Here’s how the EV-charging expressway will work
Construction on the project, which will cost an estimated $546 million, has already started and is expected to continue until 2029.
The road will include a 0.75-mile section with an integrated charging capability, which will allow motorists to charge their electric vehicles without needing to find an EV station, stop their car, or even plug it in.
WFTV Channel 9 was given a first look at the project and how the work is going, with officials confirming construction on the electrified section of the expressway is set to start in June.
Brian Hutchings from the Central Florida Expressway Authority told the outlet that the new expressway would be a ‘complete game changer’.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority and ASPIRE Engineering Research Center have partnered with Norway-based tech company ENRX on the project.
ENRX says its system will be able to deliver charging speeds of up to 200kW.
“When you can charge while driving, range anxiety and frequent charging stops will be a thing of the past,” ENRX CEO Bjørn Eldar Petersen said.
“Our unparalleled expertise in induction technology allows us to deliver charging at 200 kW even at high speeds. No one else has the technology to offer anything similar.”
The system will see the three-quarter-mile stretch of road fitted with inductive coils under its surface that are connected to the electrical grid and can wirelessly top up vehicles that pass over them.
Although it’s an exciting new step for EV charging infrastructure, for now, at least, most electric vehicles aren’t compatible with the technology.
“The system will only work on specially equipped vehicles that will be used for initial testing of the charging lane,” officials said in a statement.
It’s not the first road that can wirelessly charge electric cars
Although the new expressway will be a first for Florida, it’s not the first in the world, or even in the US.
France electrified a 1.5km (a little under a mile) stretch of road just outside of Paris earlier this year, which works in the same way to wirelessly charge electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, Detroit, aka the automotive epicenter of the US, was the first place to get an EV-charging road in North America.
Much like the upcoming expressway in Florida, the quarter-mile segment of 14th Street allows specially equipped EVs to top up their batteries while on the move.
So, the roads of the future won’t just lead the way to a destination, they might also power it.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
