Wireless electric car charging system inches towards reality

We know that small consumer electronics devices these days are able to be juiced up without the need for wires and unnecessary cables, but how about something larger? No, we aren’t talking about a HDTV, but have our sights set on an even bigger target – how about an electric car that gets juiced up sans any wires? The 20 kW Induction System that is the brainchild of Flanders’ Drive, Volvo, Van Hool, Bombardier and others, is an an induction charging system which might just let electric vehicles get their dose of juice quickly and conveniently. 

Imagine just parking over a buried plate, log into the system and you’re good to go – it seems that initial trials have shown that charging a battery pack of the size fitted to the Volvo C30 Electric (24 kWh) will take up to an hour and twenty minutes on a full discharge.

Since the charging plate is buried in the ground, it isn’t that easy to get vandalized. The charging plate itself comprises of a coil that generates a magnetic field, and whenever your vehicle is parked right above the plate, energy from the plate can be transferred without the need for any physical contact to the car’s inductive pick-up. All energy transferred will be alternating current that are then converted into direct current courtesy of the car’s built-in voltage converter. This might just be the “killer app” that electric vehicles are looking for.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Green, Transportation
Tags: wireless, wireless charging