Wireless Charging Almost Here

[Teufel Hund]

https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/wireless-ev-charging-is-coming-heres-how-it-works

Pretty interesting stuff. Appears it’s a few years away for residential consumers. While the article doesn’t explicitly state the charging capabilities the graphic indicates up to 22kW speed. Also sounds insanely expensive at the upstart (thousands of dollars) but eventually that will come down a bit. Not surprisingly Tesla bought this company back in July.

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[BigBob]

No thanks. I paid up for the electric charging doors.

 

[bluesky]

As I recall, there was a promotion at the launch of the BMW 530e where the first couple hundred buyers who requested could get a home garage charging mat free with installation. I remember that car as being a hybrid, so probably the battery wasn’t too big and the charge rate was probably pretty low. I don’t remember whether it also required/included the charger on the car, though I’d presume that only these few equipped cars had the equipment for wireless charging.

I guess now that I see this thread I’m surprised that several years have gone by since I saw that and this type of charging has never really appeared in the marketplace.

 

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

Not a big deal to plug in the charger. I don't think this will go anywhere for residential use.

 

[CaliPorsche]

Given the decarbonization agenda it will be interesting to see where this goes - I was recently involved in some work for wirelessly charging a 2800kw Battery unit (3500 HP) - the issue is with current technology you are seeing a 30-40% energy transfer efficiency rate compared to 80-90% with a copper lead or tramlines ..... so in other words for convenience you double the energy consumption per mile effectively.

I am sure technology will change and separately I am involved in a company that on a small scale is doing some cool things in advancing efficiency in wireless charging in robotics and automation ... but it is very small power scale compared to an EV ....

 

[Teufel Hund]

Not a big deal to plug in the charger. I don't think this will go anywhere for residential use.

I tend to agree.... maybe better suited for commercial sites in shopping areas etc? I was just surprised to see the potential power output of wireless. I suppose the losses in efficiency though can be potentially significant.

 

[SteveDC]

https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/wireless-ev-charging-is-coming-heres-how-it-works

Pretty interesting stuff. Appears it’s a few years away for residential consumers. While the article doesn’t explicitly state the charging capabilities the graphic indicates up to 22kW speed. Also sounds insanely expensive at the upstart (thousands of dollars) but eventually that will come down a bit. Not surprisingly Tesla bought this company back in July.

an engineer on here can probably give the correct number, but I believe wireless charging is terribly inefficient, with only about 40% of the electricity used actually going into the vehicle. This may not be a big deal from a cost perspective for some of the high rollers here, but globally, in terms of national consumption of electricity and the means to produce it, direct hookup is better.

 

[DougFrisk]

Not a big deal to plug in the charger. I don't think this will go anywhere for residential use.

For a certain cohort of people it will. As easy as it is to plug the car in when pulling into the garage, an inductive charging pad is easier yet.

For the people that feel 30 seconds is just too much trouble to plug the car in, they'd be willing to pay a few thousand for an inductive plate.

So the key would be wealthy people who like either tech or prize convenience. That fits in well with Porsche, Mercedes, Lucid, Rolls, Bentley, and a few others.

That said, even the best inductive chargers have losses, so I personally wouldn't be willing to pay extra for equipment that would cost more to charge the car.

 

[Teufel Hund]

For a certain cohort of people it will. As easy as it is to plug the car in when pulling into the garage, an inductive charging pad is easier yet.

For the people that feel 30 seconds is just too much trouble to plug the car in, they'd be willing to pay a few thousand for an inductive plate.

So the key would be wealthy people who like either tech or prize convenience. That fits in well with Porsche, Mercedes, Lucid, Rolls, Bentley, and a few others.

That said, even the best inductive chargers have losses, so I personally wouldn't be willing to pay extra for equipment that would cost more to charge the car.

Agreed!

 

[hifi239]

I thought "they finally have the iPhone charger working without overheating!" But seriously, another cool place for wireless is on-the-road charging on highways. That is further away, but it is possible.

 

[Teufel Hund]

I thought "they finally have the iPhone charger working without overheating!" But seriously, another cool place for wireless is on-the-road charging on highways. That is further away, but it is possible.

Yeah I remember reading about that a few years back. Seems possible but man I can only imagine the amount of energy necessary to make that work and then the losses in efficiency would probably be monumental

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