Sweden is planning a similar project on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland using Electreon technology to recharge an airport shuttle bus supplied by Dan and an electric truck at a cost of $12 million , mostly financed by the Swedish government. The test will be an initial step in Sweden’s plans to eventually build more than a thousand miles of electrified high-speed highways at a cost of $3 billion.

The announcement in May that it had won the Swedish bid gave Electreon new credibility since the Israeli company beat out Alstom and Volvo, two global heavyweights, which offered different technological solutions.

Electreon’s early triumph in Sweden was particularly sweet given that a handful of other companies had previously attempted charging on test tracks, particularly in South Korea, but with little success. Up to now, wireless charging has been mostly limited to parked vehicles.

Electric cars are becoming more popular around the world. But battery-charged buses have barely made a dent in the global market outside of China, which has developed a large fleet with government subsidies and other incentives. There are only a few hundred electric buses operating in the United States, although China and Europe are further along. Worldwide, electric trucks are even further behind.

If proven to be economically viable, Electreon could revolutionize urban public transportation. The company’s “smart roads” concept entails recharging vehicles by transmitting wireless energy from the coils through the pavement and into lightweight receivers placed below the chassis of buses, which operate on fixed routes, and then delivery trucks and other vehicles.

”It’s a technological and financial challenge, but If it works it could be a real game-changer for electric vehicles,” said Dan Becker , director of the Safe Climate Campaign in Washington, which advocates for lower emission vehicles. “It would free the vehicle from the plug. It would allow smaller batteries, the most expensive component of the vehicle. And it would reduce their weight so there would be less weight for the vehicle to schlep along.”