That didn't take long; I guess cords are passe? I like it though lol - reminds me of our Wii charger.
Although inductively coupled chargers are convenient (you don't have to connect and disconnect a cable), they are not as efficient as a direct connection charger. I'll stick with my cable, even if inductive chargers for the PiP become available.
+1 The technology is gymmicky - and serves simply to show that it can be done. The issue has been posted already on PC a number of times, to boot. .
In Japan, Nissan demonstrated solar-powered chargers, which look somewhat like trees. Small robots move to the base of these solar "trees," become inductively charged, and then they automatically find Nissan EV's in the parking lot, which they in turn inductively charge. After charging the vehicle, the robot returns to the base of the tree for more power. Here's a picture of their display.
Because in some instances it would be very helpful (hint - think about my occupation ). Also, in some areas EV charging cords cut get cut or even stolen, whereas wireless systems could avoid this. So, despite the small losses associated with wireless, it does have many merits. Perhaps it could be an option?
I disagree with the naysayers. If we look ten years down the road, perhaps battery technology will be so good that EV's will become ubiquitous. If that happens, we need to think outside the box about how to charge those cars. Outdoor charging stations have many disadvantages, especially that of vandalism, and wear-and-tear. With inductive charging, people simply park their car and charge it. I don't think inductive charging is today's solution, but it could be a very viable solution in five or ten years.
It will be gone as fast as one time the introduction of automatic gas filling station with the gas nozzle insertion robot.
How? One was a complicated and expensive robot that could fail and cause expensive damage when it did (also involving flamable liquid). The other is a mat that can be buried in the road or your driveway or garage floor and allows you to charge your car with convenience. Rolls Royce seem to think it's a winner. Perhaps the technology will just find niche markets - such as bus stations or taxi ranks or maybe it'll be a hit in city areas where not everyone has a driveway and hundreds of trailing charge cables would be a safety issue?
This is something I'd pay to have at home. People pay for heads- up display, fancy wheels, dynamic range cruise control... an automatic charger sounds really neat. I could park in my driveway, I won't need a pole and vandalism-prone cords, when I get home with four bags of groceries in my arms while it's raining, my car will get charged. I give this a ten.
At Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota also demonstrates a wireless charging syatem for the Prius PHV. It is based on resonance technology, which is more efficient than the inductive technology. Ken@Japan
There may be a maintenance advantage to burrying chargers in the surface. This requires that BEV manufacturers standardize on a technology. AFAIK current design goals are to get to 90% efficiency. For owners it is not to difficult to plug in at home or a fast charging station. This tech may make sense in a store or other public place. There is still the matter to make sure the tech is not dangerous to devices like pace makers.
well we can have some CA people tell you about the chargers that dont work. i can tell you about a Blink Charger at Fred Meyer in the Seattle area that barely works. FOTM; if it can be broken, abused or misused, we will figure out a way to make it happen. FOTM; the less people touch something the better off we are. FOTM; i like to see vandals swipe copper off one of those inductive things
Never understimate the power of stupid. Criminals in the UK dug up a good length of cable in order to sell it for scrap. Unfortunately for them, fiber optic cable doesn't have much scrap value. I can see the great maintenance and usability benefit of wireless public charging, but at home efficiency is a greater issue. Of course, many people won't care about the efficiency difference.
these chargers are not likely to replace home chargers. that would be a mistake. customers need to have options. i did not do the status quo as have many other Leaf owners. the plug is not being replaced by these chargers. just another option is all
There is more than efficiency benefit. WiTricity’s patented energy transfer system does not require the source and capture resonator pairs to be perfectly aligned in order to achieve efficient energy transfer. In addition, our strongly coupled magnetic resonance energy transfer provides products which are 4x smaller, 2x lighter, and more efficient than solutions based on traditional magnetic induction. Source
