Tesla Would Be Proud: Wireless Charging For Electric Cars Gets Closer To Reality

curtwoodward writes "For some reason, we're still plugging in electric-powered devices like a bunch of savages. But technology developed at MIT could soon make that a thing of the past, at least for hybrid cars. A small Boston-area company, WiTricity, is a key part of Toyota's growing experiment with wireless charging tech---something the world's largest car maker says it will start seriously testing in the U.S., Japan and Europe next year. The system works by converting AC to a higher frequency and voltage and sending it to a receiver that resonates at the same frequency, making it possible to transfer the power safely via magnetic field. Intel and Foxconn are also investors, and you might see them license the tech soon as well."

Comments

Efficient?

[Mr D from 63]

Whether or not it catches on will depend mostly on efficiency. If the losses are minimal, it makes sense to eliminate mechanical connections.

Re:Efficient?

[Z_A_Commando]

Whether or not it catches on will depend mostly on efficiency. If the losses are minimal, it makes sense to eliminate mechanical connections.

Efficiency will definitely play a part, but I think more important will be Convenience, Cost, and Coverage.

When you get an electric car, you need to plug it in every time you get home so that the charge is topped off and you never leave with a near empty battery. If all you have to do is drive over a special mat or the technology is embedded in the floor/pavement/whatever then that will be infinitely more convenient because it doesn't add any extra steps when you park your car.

If the mats cost a fortune to install or require significant upgrades to a home's existing infrastructure (a la a 220V system) they'll be less likely to be deployed. If they're sold separate from the car purchase, that could cause another issue.

Finally, if there are a bunch of competing standards or the technology doesn't catch on very widely the coverage for installations in semi-public areas like parking lots would likely never happen, leaving a large amount of city dwellers unable to get on the bandwagon.

Re:Efficient?

[jellomizer]

There is a lot to say about convenience over efficiency. Now if the price to charge per mile is still less then gasoline then it will probably still work. If we could get off the grid for a lot of this stuff with say Solar Power Stations setup at stores parking and offer it for free it will be a big hit, even if it means you can add a few miles when you are parked for a half an hour.

Re:Efficient?

[internerdj]

Just don't plug it in at your kid's tennis match.

Re:Efficient?

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering the price of energy and the whole economic crisis, a lot of people would probably rather plug in manually if the losses are any more than a couple of percent. Even 1% would probably put a lot of people off if they were aware of it.

Millions of people still insist on using incandescent light bulbs. Do you think the majority would give a damn about 1%?

Re:Efficient?

[cyberchondriac]

Considering that some people will drive an extra 3 miles to go to a gas station that's just 4 cents cheaper per gallon, yeah, a lot of people probably would.

Efficiency? Power?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want to pay 10% more to charge your car at slow L2 speeds because you're too lazy to spend 10 seconds plugging it in at night and unplugging it in the morning, who am I to try and stop you?

Re:I would like to turn my nerd card in

[goombah99]

Moreover, none of the nerds here have noticed yet that Tesla would not be proud of this. He was trying to do wireless power across nations and oceans not inductive coupling at short range. Magnetic coupling falls off at very short range compared to propagating waves.