WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana plans to rebuild a small section of highway that by next summer could charge electric vehicles being driven.

Purdue University and Indiana government’s Department of Transportation, in separate news releases issued Wednesday, touted the construction project as the first highway segment in the nation with wireless charging. Construction could begin as soon as April 1.

Neither Purdue or the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) reported how much the project will cost.

Indianapolis-based White Construction was awarded a contract to build the wireless power-transfer technology in a quarter-mile of U.S. 231/U.S. 52 between Cumberland Avenue and Lindberg Road in West Lafayette. That’s near the Walmart Supercenter and the INDOT West Lafayette regional office.

As designed, the highway would essentially work like a smartphone placed on a pad to recharge, except, in this case, the pad will be a concrete highway with multiple low-power coils designed to power electric vehicles.

Other coil designs have only been developed for use in asphalt pavement, Purdue says.

The highway will be tested with an electric truck from engine maker Cummins Inc., based in Columbus, Indiana.

The Purdue news release says, “The Purdue-designed wireless charging system is intended to work at power levels much higher than what has been demonstrated in the U.S. so far. By accommodating the higher power needs for heavy-duty vehicles, the design is also able to support the lower power needs of other vehicle classes.”

Purdue says a few other states and countries have also begun testing roads that wirelessly charge EVs. However, the Purdue system should work at power levels much higher than what has been demonstrated in the United States so far. The longer-term goal for Purdue and INDOT is to install the technology on a section of Indiana interstate in the next four to five years.

INDOT says work on the project began in 2018. The West Lafayette highway could be ready in summer 2025.

Detroit’s Michigan Central innovation district built what it’s touted as the nation’s first wireless charging road in November on a city street.