Electric Safety Challenges with a Conductive Electric Road System—Chassis Potential Modeling and Measurement

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper discusses some safety aspects for the proposed solution (Conductive ERS for electric vehicles, which consists of recharging vehicles by induction via ground rails), including the reliability of the electric vehicle ground connection. For this, it deals with the issue of the chassis electric potential drift. This situation is not being encountered in the rail modes. The article presents a simulation of the system under LTSpice for three situations, including one with someone who touches the car in an urban area as it recharges and rolls, one with the return of current to the earth only through the human and one with a lack of insulation. An experiment on a full-scale test bench corroborates the simulations.

Points to improve:

Line 59, it seems to me that it misses the plan of the article.

Line 137, the explanation on the 1.8 Kohms instead of 2.5 is unclear.

Line 164, so, should make the tires "electrical conductor" and lose the Farraday cage?

Line 205, where is the blue curve? As in 6b), is it confused with the red after the contact?

Notes of form:

Line 44, add, if available, references to the German and French examples.

Lines 93 and 95, dito, for both power systems.

Line 119, what is the difference between the two versions?

Line 131, it is not common to quote well upstream a figure that will be presented that much later in the text.

Line 136, add a nonbreaking space between 2.5 and Kohms).

Line 233, it is inconvenient for the reader that the scale changes between mA and A.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 1,

Please find our answers in the attached file.

Yours truly,

The authors.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors raise an important issue with conductive electric road system, which is the lack of reliable protective earth connection. To tackle this challenge and safety risk, the authors performed electrical simulation and experiments, and provided helpful insight for the community on this problem. The manuscript is well written with good presentation and smooth language. This reviewer recommends an acceptance.

 Please consider the following notes in the final submission:

Line 52-54: Please reorganize this sentence. "This in turn implies that, unlike what happens in trams and railways, the body of the vehicle cannot be connected to earth at all times, avoiding potential dangerous situations in which an insulation fault results in an energised vehicle body." I believe a better way is "so potential dangerous situations in which an insulation fault results in an energised vehicle body cannot be avoided".

Line 271: "the electrification of transport" -> "transportation electrification" 

In section 3.2.2, please provide more description on the salt water spray. Maybe a picture showing which part was sprayed.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 2,

Please find our answers in the attached file.

Yours truly,

The authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx