The idea is that, initially, a self-driving car would position itself briefly over a charging pad between rides, and ultimately, the infrastructure would be put in place that would allow a car to continually recharge its batteries as it travels along the road. This could allow carmakers to use smaller, lighter batteries than those required for today’s electric vehicles, which carry all their energy on board. In addition to dramatically reducing an EV’s weight and offering design freedom, it would slash the price of the electric car’s most expensive component. Daga says that Momentum’s high-power chargers can already recharge electric bus batteries in a matter of minutes, allowing them to be in service virtually 24 hours a day.