Far-a-day trailer aims to charge electric cars while driving

Far-a-day’s mobile charging concept

Charging an electric car without stopping or even leaving the vehicle still sounds remote and unlikely. Yet Far-a-day aims to make that concept real with a trailer that acts as a kind of power bank for electric vehicles.

In theory, the procedure is straightforward. On arriving at one of the company’s stations, the driver simply parks in a marked bay. The module moves autonomously, positions itself alongside the car and connects automatically, allowing the journey to continue.

According to the French start-up, this takes around two minutes. The external battery can then add roughly 300 km of range while the vehicle remains on the road.

A charger that follows the electric car

For everyday use, electric cars can be both efficient and economical. On longer trips, however, compulsory charging stops still create a different pace of travel.

This solution seeks to reverse that arrangement. Rather than the car and its driver having to find an available charger, the charger travels with the car.

At the end of the journey, the electric charger is left at another station, where it recharges before becoming available to the next user. Along the way, it uses clean energy and is claimed to cost less than conventional rapid charging.

The drawback is that none of this is operating yet. For now, Far-a-day is collecting votes to determine where it could open its first stations.