Wireless EV Charging: What Is It and How Does It Work?
In the years that EVs have been around, numerous advancements and innovations have been made. However, one of the most exciting innovations has finally arrived: wireless EV charging.
As wireless EV charging technology becomes more advanced and widely available, pulling into a station to charge your EV has the potential to become a thing of the past.
Cutting the Cord on Electric Car Charging
Over the years, there have been technological and logistical challenges in scaling wireless charging technology to suit EVs. Overcoming these challenges in a feasible and cost-effective way is no easy task. However, researchers have cracked the code and are now developing EV wireless charging for a street near you.
It is easy to take wireless technology for granted today, but it truly is cutting-edge technology. The science behind the innovation is based on electromagnet induction. Basically, if an alternating current passes through a wire coil, a magnetic field will occur. If you introduce another coil, the magnetic field will induce a current to that coil that will charge a battery.
It works well at short range for charging your phone, but there’s a challenge. Scientists call this the inverse square law, referring to how a magnetic field radiates in all directions, dissipating energy quickly over distance. Because of this, primary and secondary coils must be placed in close proximity for maximum efficiency.
The same efficiency depends on the alignment and cross-sectional area of the two coils. The coils must be in perfect alignment parallel to each other, separated by millimeters, known as the coupling factor. Although 1.0 is considered a perfect coupling factor, real-world applications only achieve a coupling factor of between 0.3 and 0.6. Scaling this up to apply to EVs higher off the ground and imperfectly parked presents apparent difficulties. MIT researchers and others have been working on a solution, developing technology to counteract the inverse square law.
The years of study resulted in the discovery of magnetic resonance, tweaking the resistance, induction, and distributed capacitance of the coils so they both operate at the exact resonant frequency. As a result, instead of passing from one coil to the next in all directions, the magnetic field follows a straight path.
Magnetic resonance strengthens the coupling between the two coils, increasing the total coupling factor. This enables wireless charging for buses and trucks that sit higher off the ground and vehicles parked in a way that makes you scratch your head.
Wireless EV Charging Is Key to Switching From ICEs
Despite thekey benefits of driving an EV, there are still concerns for potential EV buyers. Top concerns include the range of electric vehicles and ease of charging. It’s important to make charging effortless. Having a convenient and effective way to charge EVs will get more people on board with its transition.
As electric vehicles become cheaper to produce and purchase due to lower battery costs, an EV charging solution for the millions of EV owners will need to be installed in the next decade.
More countries are transitioning from combustion engine vehicles to electric ones. Consequently, supporting infrastructures are growing rapidly. Electrify America, Tesla Superchargers, and EVgo are among thelargest electric vehicle charging stationsoperating in the United States, and the race to develop the best, most cost-effective commercial wireless charging systems has begun.
Companies Race to Supply Wireless EV Chargers to the Masses
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed a unique polyphase electromagnetic coil, while Brooklyn-based company HEVO has been given the license for this technology. According toORNL, its unique polyphase electromagnetic coil delivers the highest surface power density available, 1.5 megawatts (1,500 kilowatts) per square meter—eight to 10 times higher than currently available technology. This makes for fast charging while stationary, and even has the potential to charge while driving on modified roads.
HEVO founder and CEO Jeremy McCool said,
From only one device mounted on the vehicle, a driver will now have the advantage of wirelessly charging at all levels up to 300-kilowatts, powering their home through a vehicle-to-grid interface, and even charging while driving at highway speeds with grid-to-battery efficiency of 90-96.5%. All of this functionality is built into a vehicle-side package the size of a medium pizza box and the ready-made capability to charge electric vehicles without a human behind the steering wheel.
The world of automotive is going to change faster in this decade than it has in the past century, and we need a step change in EV charging to unlock the full potential of this burgeoning multi-trillion-dollar industry.
HEVO faces stiff competition to produce wireless EV chargers in the United States. Massachusetts-based WiTricity also specializes in EV wireless technology. An MIT spinoff, it was founded by Professor Marin Soljačić in 2007.
WiTricity technology makes home wireless EV charging possible using a wall-mounted electrical box connected to a floor charging pad. Charging begins automatically as soon as an EV with a receiver drives over the pad.WiTricitysays its wireless charging pads can be installed as on-ground, such as in a private residence, driveway, or parking garage; or in-ground, buried in the pavement of a parking lot or curbside as public charging infrastructure.
“Plug in charging is difficult, dirty, unreliable and even dangerous. The answer is wireless charging by WiTricity for EV owners today, and absolutely for autonomous vehicles tomorrow. If there’s no driver, who’s going to plug it in?” said Alex Gruzen, CEO, WiTricity.
WAVEis another company impacting the wireless charging market. The acronym WAVE stands for Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification. It’s owned by Ideonomics, a company making fast charging systems for medium and heavy-duty vehicles.
Ideonomics claims WAVE’s high-power systems are suitable for powering electric vehicles at mass transit terminals, warehouses, distribution centers, shuttle services, and seaports.
Tesla has partnered with Wave to fit receiver boxes to its semi-trucks when they become available. Tesla is very optimistic about the project. If successful, Elon Musk may begin the enormous task of installing wireless charging highways across America to support the technology.
Is Wireless EV Charging the Better Way?
As the growth and popularity of EVs rise, there will be plenty of opportunities for tech companies to develop solutions to support them. With wireless charging, EVs can trickle charge throughout the day, which solves the problem of EV cable charging and range anxiety.
EV charging via wireless technology is at the forefront of the industry’s advancement. In the future, companies such as HEVO, WiTricity, and Wave will continue to fill in the gaps of what’s needed to ensure the future of not only EVs but also autonomous vehicles remains bright.
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