[CEATEC 2014] Earlier this April, TDK announced that they will be working alongside US-based WiTricity Corporation after getting into a licensing agreement with the latter where wireless power transfer technology is concerned. The whole idea of that particular partnership back then was to develop wireless power transfer system for electric vehicles as well as different kinds of mobility applications, not to mention to promote business as well. On the CEATEC showfloor, TDK is demonstrating the possible future where roads are all equipped with wireless power transfer capability, ensuring that your electric vehicle will be able to travel across long distances without having to worry about running out of juice.
Of course, I do understand that to have such a future could be some distance away. After all, if one were to dig up the entire existing road infrastructure just to install such wireless power transfer modules and to wire them, it could take a long, long time, not to mention the cost involved. Perhaps groundwork can be laid down in a new development, but to retrofit this in an existing road network? Sounds like quite the gargantuan and monumental task.
At this point in time of its development, TDK has achieved wireless power transfer of 3.3 kilowatts, and they are targeting 6.6 kilowatts by the time 2018 or 2019 arrives. Of course, these are all guesstimates at best, so don’t be too disappointed if things do not pan out in such a manner in the end. What it is more practical would be for one to charge up their electric vehicles in double quick time. All you need to do is to park your ride properly in the designated area, press the button and voila! Return to your car tomorrow and see it have a full charge. In the demonstration video, it showed how such a vehicle can detect the presence of these wireless power transfer modules, inform you through a dashboard console of such availability, and perform a self-parking move – this after detecting physical objects as well as humans in the vicinity before parking itself prim and proper to commence the fast charging of its internal battery.
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