New EV vs ICE debate- Embedded induction loop sensors

[ctenidae]

There are a number of places on my daily drive where there are what I presume are embedded induction loops for traffic monitoring. Which makes me wonder- what does an EV look like to one of those sensors compared to an ICE?

Is a sheet metal body enough to get a signal and the rest is unnecessary noise? Or is the metal mass of an ICE drivetrain needed to get a good clear read?

If you can differentiate, is there any use for that info?

It's a pretty quiet drive with time to ponder deep thoughts like this.

Sponsored

 

[AliRafiee]

It works fine when I’m riding my motorcycle. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for an EV.

 

[ChasingCoral]

There are a number of places on my daily drive where there are what I presume are embedded induction loops for traffic monitoring. Which makes me wonder- what does an EV look like to one of those sensors compared to an ICE?

Is a sheet metal body enough to get a signal and the rest is unnecessary noise? Or is the metal mass of an ICE drivetrain needed to get a good clear read?

If you can differentiate, is there any use for that info?

It's a pretty quiet drive with time to ponder deep thoughts like this.

They usually detect steel-frame bicycles just fine. Aluminum- and carbon-frame bikes have too little ferrous metal, requiring holding the bottom bracket right over the wire.

I'm not worried about BEVs, even exotics with all-carbon bodies.

 

[ctenidae]

It works fine when I’m riding my motorcycle. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for an EV.

How do you know? I can't come up with many scenarios involving the casual use of embedded road sensors, so I'm guessing that's your field.

Which leads to my other question, can the sensor data differentiate between the motorcycle and a car? Does it matter if you can?

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

There are some research papers out there looking at the ability to use embedded induction loop sensors to determine what kind of vehicle is moving over them--this is part of the field of engineering related to induction charging in parking lots and on roadways. I haven't bothered to read them in detail. It's clearly pretty easy to tell that there's some kind of vehicle. Whether there are unique signatures based on power plant doesn't seem to be known yet.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Which leads to my other question, can the sensor data differentiate between the motorcycle and a car? Does it matter if you can?

Yes, you can use inductive loops to detect the size of the signal return. Do road builders do that? No. The install the equipment that does what they need and don't spend extra money to answer questions they don't need answered.

All they care about is whether there is vehicle. It's a simple yes-no question. Doing more than that costs money for no purpose.

 

[Spike]

It works fine when I’m riding my motorcycle. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for an EV.

I have problems all the time on my bike.

But never in my EV or any other car. I don't think it really looks at the vehicle, it could get an idea of the mass of metal, but why would it? I would strongly guess it is a simple binary question for the system, is there a vehicle stopped at that light? Yes, cycle the signal. No, no change needed. Surely the sensitivity is likely adjustable.

 

[Phrozen]

There's an induction loop that opens the gate from the inside of our parking lot at work, and another one at Fairbanks Airport--they have no issues picking up the Mach E, even under a few inches of packed snow. Fairbanks has gone away from induction loops for traffic signals, so I can't speak to those.

Sponsored