How the Pantograph-Free Superconducting Maglev Gets Its Electricity
Posted: 17. Oct 2026, 13:05
[JP] How the Pantograph-Free Superconducting Maglev Gets Its Electricity
Source: Tetsudo.com (Railway News)
Original title:
パンタグラフがない「超電導リニア」、どこから電気を得ている？ カギになる、「身近な製品」にも使われた技術とは
Author: Yuki Nishinaka, Tetsudo.com staff
Date: October 17, 2026, 10:35
Original language: Japanese
Web link: https://www.tetsudo.com/report/568/
Accessed: October 17, 2026
A technical explainer on how the superconducting maglev system—adopted for JR Central's Chuo Shinkansen—supplies electricity to vehicles despite having no pantographs or contact with ground equipment.
Key points:
Propulsion: In the superconducting maglev, all speed control occurs on the ground side. Propulsion coils along the guideway, powered from substations, drive the vehicle, so no traction power needs to be delivered to the cars themselves.
Auxiliary power: The vehicles still need electricity for interior lighting, air conditioning, and other service equipment. Since conventional contact-based methods (pantograph/overhead wire or power rails) are impossible for a maglev running without contact, JR Central developed inductive power collection (yūdō shūden)—a non-contact system using the magnetic field changes between two coils, the same principle as the "Qi2" wireless charging standard for smartphones, to transfer power even at 500 km/h.
Previous system: Earlier test vehicles—the original L0 series (test runs from 2013) and the MLX01 before it—used onboard gas turbine generators (like those in aircraft engines) for auxiliary power. However, these posed safety concerns in the mostly-tunneled line because they ran on kerosene (a flammable fuel), produced exhaust inside tunnels, and imposed maintenance burdens due to their different structure.
Current status: Inductive power collection was implemented with the improved L0 series test vehicles introduced in 2020. On today's Yamanashi Maglev Line, the gas turbines are still used in combination, because ground loops for inductive collection are not yet installed along the entire line—for tests involving long stops at locations without ground coils, the gas turbines supply the needed power.
Future: According to JR Central, ground loops will be installed along the entire operating line when the Chuo Shinkansen opens for commercial service.
Source: Tetsudo.com (Railway News)
Original title:
パンタグラフがない「超電導リニア」、どこから電気を得ている？ カギになる、「身近な製品」にも使われた技術とは
Author: Yuki Nishinaka, Tetsudo.com staff
Date: October 17, 2026, 10:35
Original language: Japanese
Web link: https://www.tetsudo.com/report/568/
Accessed: October 17, 2026
A technical explainer on how the superconducting maglev system—adopted for JR Central's Chuo Shinkansen—supplies electricity to vehicles despite having no pantographs or contact with ground equipment.
Key points:
Propulsion: In the superconducting maglev, all speed control occurs on the ground side. Propulsion coils along the guideway, powered from substations, drive the vehicle, so no traction power needs to be delivered to the cars themselves.
Auxiliary power: The vehicles still need electricity for interior lighting, air conditioning, and other service equipment. Since conventional contact-based methods (pantograph/overhead wire or power rails) are impossible for a maglev running without contact, JR Central developed inductive power collection (yūdō shūden)—a non-contact system using the magnetic field changes between two coils, the same principle as the "Qi2" wireless charging standard for smartphones, to transfer power even at 500 km/h.
Previous system: Earlier test vehicles—the original L0 series (test runs from 2013) and the MLX01 before it—used onboard gas turbine generators (like those in aircraft engines) for auxiliary power. However, these posed safety concerns in the mostly-tunneled line because they ran on kerosene (a flammable fuel), produced exhaust inside tunnels, and imposed maintenance burdens due to their different structure.
Current status: Inductive power collection was implemented with the improved L0 series test vehicles introduced in 2020. On today's Yamanashi Maglev Line, the gas turbines are still used in combination, because ground loops for inductive collection are not yet installed along the entire line—for tests involving long stops at locations without ground coils, the gas turbines supply the needed power.
Future: According to JR Central, ground loops will be installed along the entire operating line when the Chuo Shinkansen opens for commercial service.