Abstract There are several advantages by applying a high-temperature superconducting wire to an on-board superconducting magnet for the maglev train. At first, an increase of thermal capacity of superconducting coils contributes a stability of the superconducting state of the coils. In addition, a reliability of superconducting magnet improves by simplification of the magnet structure. And the weight of the superconducting magnet and the energy consumption of the on-board cryocooler will decrease. Therefore, we examined the possibility on application of the 2G wire with a high critical current density in a high magnetic field. We performed numerical analysis regarding the weight of a superconducting magnet and the energy consumption of an on-board cryocooler in consideration of the characteristics of the 2G wire. Furthermore, we have carried out the I c measurement for the commercial 2G wires under various experimental conditions such as temperature, magnetic field strength and angle. We also performed the trial manufacture and evaluation of I c characteristics for the small race track-shaped superconducting coil.