Abstract

An electrically driven vehicle having suitable batteries to drive the vehicle on conventional roads and a pickup receiver thereon for receiving power for a drive motor from a conductor embedded in a prepared roadway for driving the vehicle and for charging the batteries. The pickup receiver is supported on the vehicle so that it establishes a small air gap with the conductor for operation on a specially prepared roadway. On some vehicles the pickup receiver may be lowered to the proper position for operation on the special roadway and then raised to provide sufficient clearance to accommodate normal obstacles, such as driveway gutters, when the vehicle is driven on conventional roads. When driving on the prepared roadway with the power pickup receiver in a fixed down position forming a nominal air gap with the road conductor, electrical control is provided for automatically maintaining a relatively constant output from the power pickup receiver despite variations in the energy consumed by the motor or the size of the air gap.