Seven days ago, a Silicon Valley energy startup CEO contacted me to help write a $1,000,000 grant proposal. I worked over the weekend researching the funding opportunities at the Department of Energy and writing a first draft of the proposal. (The world of startups requires 24/7 availability and everything is due now.) We reviewed that draft together yesterday, first to align on content and second to confirm he likes my work. (I don’t come cheap. He likes it.) Since I had yet to sign an NDA, I queried whether anything we had spoken about so far was under wraps, and he said no.

So I thought I would outline for you what he aims to demonstrate through a working prototype by the end of 2022.

Imagine a world where EVs can be HyperfastCharged™ 1,000 times faster than current technology. Instead of charging your Tesla or other EV for an hour every 200 miles or so, you can simply drive over a “charging zone” and get a full charge in seconds. In small towns, charging zones could be located at stop signs or service stations. This would relieve range anxiety for many potential EV customers.

As you may know, within the next couple of years, autonomous, self-driving long-haul freight trucks will be a reality. Imagine autonomous driverless trucks driving freeways in an EV lane with a HyperfastCharged™ zone every 100 miles. Long-haul trucks could be driving 24 hours per day, minus loading and unloading stops. (I know, this sucks for truck drivers. Another example of AI replacing workers.)

Here’s what the working prototype (non-solar) would look like:

The key material component is the gyrotron (1), a powerful beam-based technology that can transmit incredible bursts of energy. For the working prototype, a $500,000+ gyrotron will be purchased.

A custom transmitter plate and a receiver plate/rectenna will be created (2) (3).

The gyrotron and transmitter plate will be placed below the road surface, creating the HyperfastCharged™ charging zone, and the receiver plate installed on a modified EV, connected to special capacitors (4) that would charge any standard EV battery (5).

Lamborghini and MIT have partnered to produce supercapacitors, which may be used if available in time.

In production, HyperfastCharged™ zones would be located near smart energy storing systems that receive their energy from solar farms. (Note: There is also a custom software component where the HyperfastCharged™ zone recognizes an appropriate EV, evaluates its need, and delivers the charge.)

The crazy California goal to have all-electric vehicles by 2035 is impossible to achieve at present, since the current electrical grid cannot sustain such a need. The only proposal that makes sense is installing a set of new smaller nuclear reactors, but does anyone believe nuclear would be approved in time?

This technology offers another approach that, when demonstrated, can be a game-changer.

For those of you interested in the research related to the viability of using a gyrotron in this way, see the research review on “Wireless power transfer via Subterahertz-wave”  written in 2018 by Sei Mizojiri and Kohei Shimamura.

[Did I use too many TMs? Hey, TMs are fun!]