Inductive Charging 🤔

[Cybertruck26]

I was thinking about this recently, thought I would bring my pondering to ye fellow Tesnerds.

I read an article not very long ago about Tesla's r&d into their own inductive charging (article below), but it made me imagine a world where we can (efficiently) inductively charge our Cybertrucks... maybe even while driving.

https://electrek.co/2023/12/18/tesla-confirms-wireless-inductive-electric-car-home-charger/

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[XCeilidhX]

Building roads that provide charging inductively to EVs traveling them would be fantastic and I have heard this idea kicked around a lot.

Given that rumor has it in the USA our bridges and road infrastructure are desperately overdue for serious overhaul maintenance as an average though makes me think that if we can’t afford the upkeep on our roads as they are now, we probably aren’t going to have the funds to lay an entirely new road network with built-in charging capability for quite some time unless they are a privately funded pay to drive on them model. But finding space for a private company to make roads that compete with current highways would in some locations be quite difficult to achieve.

One can dream though, for sure.

It WOULD be awesome to not have to stop to charge as frequently or perhaps not at all on longer trips because the charging is continuous. At that point though, maybe a mag lev train with space for EVs would be a more practical use of the money and space (kind of like an overland auto ferry akin to auto ferries across bodies of water). Not sure how those economics would work out because that’s not my area of specialty. New trains are quite expensive—new roads with induction capacity for all the cars traveling on them may surpass that cost to build though. Not sure.

Even having induction for home use and parking lots and garages would be a great start, however.

Just my initial two cents.

cheers

 

[Cybertruck26]

Building roads that provide charging inductively to EVs traveling them would be fantastic and I have heard this idea kicked around a lot.

Given that rumor has it in the USA our bridges and road infrastructure are desperately overdue for serious overhaul maintenance as an average though makes me think that if we can’t afford the upkeep on our roads as they are now, we probably aren’t going to have the funds to lay an entirely new road network with built-in charging capability for quite some time unless they are a privately funded pay to drive on them model. But finding space for a private company to make roads that compete with current highways would in some locations be quite difficult to achieve.

One can dream though, for sure.

It WOULD be awesome to not have to stop to charge as frequently or perhaps not at all on longer trips because the charging is continuous. At that point though, maybe a mag lev train with space for EVs would be a more practical use of the money and space (kind of like an overland auto ferry akin to auto ferries across bodies of water). Not sure how those economics would work out because that’s not my area of specialty. New trains are quite expensive—new roads with induction capacity for all the cars traveling on them may surpass that cost to build though. Not sure.

Even having induction for home use and parking lots and garages would be a great start, however.

Just my initial two cents.

cheers

I think Sweden was working on roadways, can't recall, but was definitely Europe. Awesome insight, thank you.

I 100% agree, just having the ability to drive up and park, that's it...sounds amazing.

There is more opportunity in the future, than not, I am ok with that

 

[Cybertruck26]

ah, yes... Sweden

https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/...-electrified-road-for-evs-to-charge-while-dri

 

[Gurule92]

I've been telling people there is a wireless charging option in the configurator code that cant be applied to any current configurations. This is what the diaper is for. IMO

 

[Woodrick]

Induction charging has been on the radar for years. There have been a few companies that come out with product, but they seem to disappear into the ether.

 

[Cybertruck26]

Induction charging has been on the radar for years. There have been a few companies that come out with product, but they seem to disappear into the ether.

It's not a very efficient way of charging imho, plus will probably take A LOT longer. That said, not going anywhere for a while? Then it would be perfect, ESPECIALLY if you could choose to charge while on the road, talk about game changing.

 

[inierdepry999]

Moreover, it seems that a significant portion of the energy there is being spent on heating.

 

[Cybertruck26]

Moreover, it seems that a significant portion of the energy there is being spent on heating.

Agreed

 

[agordon117]

To those talking about lost energy on heating, my understanding is that this is not the traditional inductive charging that you are thinking of with cell phones. I think normal wireless charging is magnetic induction, and the charging tesla is talking about is magnetic resonance. Supposedly the efficiency is much higher, but it's also more expensive. This is a good use case for it, where we are talking about large amounts of power.

 

[gtlimer]

This will soon be happening in my city.

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando...da-expressway-electric-vehicle-state-road-516

 

[Cybertruck26]

Wow! I didn't even know anyone in the US was trying to push forward with this. I assume the interstates could possibly get some funding from FHWA (Federal Highway Admin), but--- let's be honest... Fed is broke, unless it's for them or another country (not trying to tiptoe in political waters).

 

[CyberGus]

Wireless Charging for Electric Cars Is Inching Closer to Reality

By Tope Alake
February 20, 2024 at 6:00 AM CST

Someday soon, plug-in cars may no longer need a plug. Electric car drivers would simply pull into a specialized parking space when it’s time to power up, wait for a light on their dashboard to switch on, and then hop out of the car and go about their day.

This is the promise of wireless EV charging, an inductive transfer of electrons that would eliminate the need for all those pesky cords. Multiple startups have spent years working towards a world in which wireless charging goes mainstream, and as EV adoption picks up, momentum is building to make that dream a reality. Companies are coalescing around standardized technology, automakers are embarking on wireless experiments, and municipalities are mapping out use cases. Even Tesla Inc. is interested.

But major hurdles remain, chief among them slow charging speeds and the money and interest needed to build stations and get more carmakers on board. While charging without a cord sounds great on paper, the technology faces the same paradox that’s impacting the rollout of public plugs: Stronger consumer demand could push car companies to take up wireless charging, but growth in EV demand is stymied in part by anxiety about public charging.

“If I was a car manufacturer, I’d probably be reluctant to put it on a vehicle today just because there’s not any wireless chargers out there,” says Michael Weismiller, program manager for electrification R&D in the US Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office. “You really have to see the infrastructure and the vehicles get deployed at the same time for it to ultimately make sense.”

Wireless, or inductive, EV charging works by using magnetic resonance and a charging pad to generate a power-transmitting field. When a coil in a receiver under the car aligns with a coil in the charging pad, the receiver captures that energy and feeds it to the car’s battery. The technology is similar to wireless phone charging, which also requires a receiver and aligned coils; but EV systems can work with up to 10 inches (250 millimeters) of separation.

Speed is an issue, though. Most wireless chargers are on par with a Level 2 charger (the kind you’d use at home) and not the DC fast chargers available at many public stations. Electric cars also need to be designed with wireless charging in mind. While retrofitting EVs is doable, in practice it can void the car’s battery warranty, says Amaiya Khardenavis, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

For carmakers, enabling wireless charging is still difficult to justify: It’s expensive, and there aren’t yet charging stations to make it a compelling perk for car buyers. Alex Gruzen, chief executive officer at Massachusetts-based WiTricity Corp., says his company’s wireless charging capability will cost automakers several hundred dollars per car, and consumers at least $2,500 to start — both figures he sees falling over the next five years.

These hurdles mean that, for now at least, wireless EV charging mostly exists in the form of pilot projects. Some automakers in China and South Korea are testing the technology on new passenger cars, but many wireless-charging trials are geared at commercial vehicles, which tend to have consistent routes and the luxury of powering up overnight in fixed parking spaces.

“You can deploy the chargers at specific locations on the routes throughout the day,” says Loren McDonald, founder and CEO of EVAdoption, an electric vehicle analyst firm.

This summer, WiTricity plans to roll out its Halo wireless system on E-Z-GO and ICON EV golf carts and light vehicles, after showcasing the technology on retrofitted vehicles like Ford’s Mustang Mach-E. The company’s investors include Mitsubishi Corp. and Siemens AG, and WiTricity has a partnership to demo wireless charging on cars made by South Korea’s KG Mobility. WiTricity says passenger cars get up to 35 miles of charge per hour with its technology.

“Charging remains one of the big points of anxiety for EV buyers, and we make it something that just happens in the background,” Gruzen says.

In Los Angeles County, the Antelope Valley Transit Authority uses inductive systems made by Wave Charging to help power its fleet of electric buses. The agency has 15 Wave wireless charging stations — one at its offices and 14 across its bus routes — according to AVTA Marketing Director James Royal. Using the 250-kilowatt chargers for just five minutes adds an average of 10 miles of range, says Benjamin Auslander, Wave’s vice president of sales and marketing. “It allows for that bus to maintain its operations throughout the day without having to go back to a depot,” he says. Wave has deployed more than 50 charging pads in North America, and has a DOE grant to work on a 500-kilowatt fast charger for trucks.

Indianapolis, too, is using wireless charging for its electric buses, which are made by Chinese EV giant BYD Co. In 2019, the city partnered with Pennsylvania-based charging startup InductEV (then called Momentum Dynamics Corp.)

Brooklyn-based wireless charging startup Hevo Inc. is working with the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Stellantis NV to trial a 50-kilowatt wireless system on the carmaker’s Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, after completing a demo with a Level 2 wireless charger last year. Hevo is also developing a 300-kilowatt wireless fast charger in partnership with Oak Ridge, says CEO Jeremy McCool.

In perhaps the most critical signal of wireless charging’s potential for passenger cars, Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen in December confirmed that the company is pursuing its own version of the technology. “We are working on inductive charging, so you don’t even need to plug something in at that point — just pull in your garage, drive over the pad and it’s charging,” von Holzhausen said during an appearance on the YouTube series “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

Tesla’s vote of confidence is spurring interest among other automakers, too. “That’s the major wake-up call,” McCool says. “Until that happened, wireless charging was still considered a fringe technology. Now it’s a trending technology.”

Standardization could also help boost adoption. In 2022, SAE International — an association of engineers and technical transport experts — finalized the first standard for stationary wireless charging for light-duty vehicles, a category that includes passenger cars. The standard covers everything from safe charging speed (up to 11 kilowatts) to interoperability and performance.

“That means … apartment-building chargers can be built,” Gruzen says. “It means that parking lots, street parking, all can adopt wireless charging from companies that specialize in that kind of public infrastructure. And the automakers can focus on making cars that’ll be compatible.”

The SAE has also published guidelines, though not final standards, for heavy-duty vehicles to charge wirelessly at speeds up to 500 kilowatts. The DOE has agreements in place to demo that technology on a UPS route in Utah and at several Walmart locations. “Ultimately it’s going to be the truckmakers and the carmakers who have to figure out if it makes sense for them,” Weismiller says.

For the time being, the vast majority of investment is still going to traditional EV chargers, though federal and state lawmakers in the US are pushing for grants to expand wireless charging. The US now has more than 9,000 public fast-charging stations and over 53,000 Level 2 stations, according to the DOE. More are expected to come online as states start to deploy $5 billion in federal money.

But experts say future developments in car technology — especially autonomous driving — could strengthen the argument for wireless charging. The SAE is currently working on a standard method for aligning EVs with charging pads, which will prove particularly critical when cars start driving and parking themselves.

Powering up an EV on a pad isn’t charging’s final frontier, either. The SAE plans to update its light-duty vehicle standard to include bidirectional charging, which lets a car supply power back to the grid. Gruzen says WiTricity’s next generation of wireless charging components will be bidirectional; he expects to start selling them to automakers later this year.

The SAE is also developing technical guidelines for what’s known as “dynamic inductive charging” — i.e. charging without a plug when a vehicle is in motion. That technology, which could turn streets themselves into charging pads, is still in its infancy. Electreon, an Israeli company, tested dynamic charging on a quarter-mile stretch of road in Detroit last year. Earlier this month, Stellantis said that its Chrysler Halcyon Concept EV, slated for production in 2028, would come equipped with dynamic wireless charging capability.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...or-electric-cars-is-inching-closer-to-reality

 

[Gigahorse]

I've been telling people there is a wireless charging option in the configurator code that cant be applied to any current configurations. This is what the diaper is for. IMO

Gotta be some reason for that giant ugly thing on the back of the truck, with just enough wires in it we can't easily rip it off.
My guess is either room for additional battery capacity to get the CT over 350 miles real world, or some kind of charging improvement like you said, hopefully both.

 

[Cybertruck26]

Wireless Charging for Electric Cars Is Inching Closer to Reality

By Tope Alake
February 20, 2024 at 6:00 AM CST

Someday soon, plug-in cars may no longer need a plug. Electric car drivers would simply pull into a specialized parking space when it’s time to power up, wait for a light on their dashboard to switch on, and then hop out of the car and go about their day.

This is the promise of wireless EV charging, an inductive transfer of electrons that would eliminate the need for all those pesky cords. Multiple startups have spent years working towards a world in which wireless charging goes mainstream, and as EV adoption picks up, momentum is building to make that dream a reality. Companies are coalescing around standardized technology, automakers are embarking on wireless experiments, and municipalities are mapping out use cases. Even Tesla Inc. is interested.

But major hurdles remain, chief among them slow charging speeds and the money and interest needed to build stations and get more carmakers on board. While charging without a cord sounds great on paper, the technology faces the same paradox that’s impacting the rollout of public plugs: Stronger consumer demand could push car companies to take up wireless charging, but growth in EV demand is stymied in part by anxiety about public charging.

“If I was a car manufacturer, I’d probably be reluctant to put it on a vehicle today just because there’s not any wireless chargers out there,” says Michael Weismiller, program manager for electrification R&D in the US Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office. “You really have to see the infrastructure and the vehicles get deployed at the same time for it to ultimately make sense.”

Wireless, or inductive, EV charging works by using magnetic resonance and a charging pad to generate a power-transmitting field. When a coil in a receiver under the car aligns with a coil in the charging pad, the receiver captures that energy and feeds it to the car’s battery. The technology is similar to wireless phone charging, which also requires a receiver and aligned coils; but EV systems can work with up to 10 inches (250 millimeters) of separation.

Speed is an issue, though. Most wireless chargers are on par with a Level 2 charger (the kind you’d use at home) and not the DC fast chargers available at many public stations. Electric cars also need to be designed with wireless charging in mind. While retrofitting EVs is doable, in practice it can void the car’s battery warranty, says Amaiya Khardenavis, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

For carmakers, enabling wireless charging is still difficult to justify: It’s expensive, and there aren’t yet charging stations to make it a compelling perk for car buyers. Alex Gruzen, chief executive officer at Massachusetts-based WiTricity Corp., says his company’s wireless charging capability will cost automakers several hundred dollars per car, and consumers at least $2,500 to start — both figures he sees falling over the next five years.

These hurdles mean that, for now at least, wireless EV charging mostly exists in the form of pilot projects. Some automakers in China and South Korea are testing the technology on new passenger cars, but many wireless-charging trials are geared at commercial vehicles, which tend to have consistent routes and the luxury of powering up overnight in fixed parking spaces.

“You can deploy the chargers at specific locations on the routes throughout the day,” says Loren McDonald, founder and CEO of EVAdoption, an electric vehicle analyst firm.

This summer, WiTricity plans to roll out its Halo wireless system on E-Z-GO and ICON EV golf carts and light vehicles, after showcasing the technology on retrofitted vehicles like Ford’s Mustang Mach-E. The company’s investors include Mitsubishi Corp. and Siemens AG, and WiTricity has a partnership to demo wireless charging on cars made by South Korea’s KG Mobility. WiTricity says passenger cars get up to 35 miles of charge per hour with its technology.

“Charging remains one of the big points of anxiety for EV buyers, and we make it something that just happens in the background,” Gruzen says.

In Los Angeles County, the Antelope Valley Transit Authority uses inductive systems made by Wave Charging to help power its fleet of electric buses. The agency has 15 Wave wireless charging stations — one at its offices and 14 across its bus routes — according to AVTA Marketing Director James Royal. Using the 250-kilowatt chargers for just five minutes adds an average of 10 miles of range, says Benjamin Auslander, Wave’s vice president of sales and marketing. “It allows for that bus to maintain its operations throughout the day without having to go back to a depot,” he says. Wave has deployed more than 50 charging pads in North America, and has a DOE grant to work on a 500-kilowatt fast charger for trucks.

Indianapolis, too, is using wireless charging for its electric buses, which are made by Chinese EV giant BYD Co. In 2019, the city partnered with Pennsylvania-based charging startup InductEV (then called Momentum Dynamics Corp.)

Brooklyn-based wireless charging startup Hevo Inc. is working with the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Stellantis NV to trial a 50-kilowatt wireless system on the carmaker’s Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, after completing a demo with a Level 2 wireless charger last year. Hevo is also developing a 300-kilowatt wireless fast charger in partnership with Oak Ridge, says CEO Jeremy McCool.

In perhaps the most critical signal of wireless charging’s potential for passenger cars, Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen in December confirmed that the company is pursuing its own version of the technology. “We are working on inductive charging, so you don’t even need to plug something in at that point — just pull in your garage, drive over the pad and it’s charging,” von Holzhausen said during an appearance on the YouTube series “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

Tesla’s vote of confidence is spurring interest among other automakers, too. “That’s the major wake-up call,” McCool says. “Until that happened, wireless charging was still considered a fringe technology. Now it’s a trending technology.”

Standardization could also help boost adoption. In 2022, SAE International — an association of engineers and technical transport experts — finalized the first standard for stationary wireless charging for light-duty vehicles, a category that includes passenger cars. The standard covers everything from safe charging speed (up to 11 kilowatts) to interoperability and performance.

“That means … apartment-building chargers can be built,” Gruzen says. “It means that parking lots, street parking, all can adopt wireless charging from companies that specialize in that kind of public infrastructure. And the automakers can focus on making cars that’ll be compatible.”

The SAE has also published guidelines, though not final standards, for heavy-duty vehicles to charge wirelessly at speeds up to 500 kilowatts. The DOE has agreements in place to demo that technology on a UPS route in Utah and at several Walmart locations. “Ultimately it’s going to be the truckmakers and the carmakers who have to figure out if it makes sense for them,” Weismiller says.

For the time being, the vast majority of investment is still going to traditional EV chargers, though federal and state lawmakers in the US are pushing for grants to expand wireless charging. The US now has more than 9,000 public fast-charging stations and over 53,000 Level 2 stations, according to the DOE. More are expected to come online as states start to deploy $5 billion in federal money.

But experts say future developments in car technology — especially autonomous driving — could strengthen the argument for wireless charging. The SAE is currently working on a standard method for aligning EVs with charging pads, which will prove particularly critical when cars start driving and parking themselves.

Powering up an EV on a pad isn’t charging’s final frontier, either. The SAE plans to update its light-duty vehicle standard to include bidirectional charging, which lets a car supply power back to the grid. Gruzen says WiTricity’s next generation of wireless charging components will be bidirectional; he expects to start selling them to automakers later this year.

The SAE is also developing technical guidelines for what’s known as “dynamic inductive charging” — i.e. charging without a plug when a vehicle is in motion. That technology, which could turn streets themselves into charging pads, is still in its infancy. Electreon, an Israeli company, tested dynamic charging on a quarter-mile stretch of road in Detroit last year. Earlier this month, Stellantis said that its Chrysler Halcyon Concept EV, slated for production in 2028, would come equipped with dynamic wireless charging capability.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...or-electric-cars-is-inching-closer-to-reality

Thank you! I look forward to reading this.

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