Featured Toyota’s electric cars will have wireless charging, thanks to Israeli tech

Just how efficient can this be? What is a tiny loss for a phone is going to add up at EV scales.

 

A decade ago they said wireless phone charging was going to change everything and Starbuck's spent big on tables that had built in chargers. But here we are ten years later and none of that stuff ever became popular.

There's nothing convenient about charging a phone slowly if connecting a cord can speed up how fast it charges... Times that by a 100 if you're talking about charging an electric car.

Of course if you can charge while driving down a highway, that would be different...

This is probably just Toyota trying to do PR work that doesn't turn into anything because things aren't going too well with their investors seeing them get portrayed as anti-EV.

 

I think wireless charging phones is more because the outlet on the phone wore out.

I was thinking this might work for a EV bus. Install chargers at the usual stops, and the bus picks up some charge. But does the costs compare to just having a bigger battery in the bus? One wireless charger company is claiming 22kW rates, so decent speed could be possible.

Heard of at least one test program were EV cars had undercarriage armatures to get electricity from a rail in the road. More sophisticated than what trains use in that the system automatically lined up the armature to the rail, and it had safety systems to keep squirrels from getting fried. So wireless isn't the only option there. With nearly every BEV with a range of over 200 miles, I don't think either can justify their cost over having a better network of park and chargers.

This article has some details of where wireless charging is at in technical terms; not a deep dive. It does point out wireless is important for autonomous cars. It says crucial, but I think that is only if we don't get robot charge cords working.
https://www.techradar.com/news/wireless-electric-vehicle-charging

They already did that. So it must be real this time.
Toyota Licenses Wireless Charging Tech from WiTricity - IEEE Spectrum

Witricity is claiming 90% to 93% efficiency with their system in the first article. It might have been higher when Toyota gave them some cash. I'm saying it was just a claim from them, because the results were with using high end parts that were hand 'tuned' to get the best efficiency. Something that wouldn't be in a consumer product.

 

If this technology could end up in my garage, I likely don't care if my car charges 20% more slowly. I'll have a fully charged vehicle in the morning regardless.

 

Wireless charging would be great IF they can get a high enough efficiency.
I would never use it at home due to the efficiency losses.

It would be great in parking spaces. Especially for multi-housing units. If they have off street lots,nthis would work well. Less to get vandalized, fewer tripping issues, and very easy to use.

For these benefits, the cost of the system will need to be low, and I don’t swe that happening anytime soon.

 

Ok hear me out... A bus right? But it's electric! And you know what in congested cities it should get a dedicated lane and be semi autonomous. Like a special road that will guide it around turns and automatic brakes when it gets to a stop. To save weight and environmental impact let's connect it to a power line maybe one built into the road or hang it overhead and it can get power directly from the grid and doesn't need big batteries!

Oh, the future is bright!

 

you'd think gas cars never had to refill, the way people get excited about not having to plug in. what a bunch of nonsense

 

To be fair, there are people that find it difficult to charge.
For many car owners, that isn’t an issue, but for others it is.

If EVs want to get past 550%-60% market share, the charging infrastructure needs to be more ubiquitous.

 

Wonder what range anxiety was like in the early 1900's before there were gas stations on every corner?

Gasoline range anxiety 100 years ago made electric-car charging seem easy

Maybe in another 10 years or so, we'll have good electric infrastructure?

 

An EV wirelessly charging could charge at the same rate as a plug, but it will use more electricity to do so. 10% or more is likely.

The cost will prevent it from getting into personal cars

What if, this might sound crazy, there was a moving cable that the car just grabbed onto?

Some people in NJ might not know how to pump their own gas.

 

I like the idea....pull into the garage and the car auto charges...without doing anything. However, the efficiency loss of wireless charging is certainly an issue.

I do that with my phone at night....just place it on the pad and it does it's thing. Works for me!

 

Have you guys heard about roads that have imbedded electric grids in them that charge your vehicle as you travel?

Drivers Could One Day Charge Their Electric Cars As They Drive (businessinsider.com)

Practical application and test of technology
States test an electrifying idea: roads that can recharge your electric vehicle – Oregon Capital Chronicle

 

Are potholes an issue at all?

 

It's mentioned in the other articles. It has the issues of stationary wireless for higher cost.

 

It might take many decades, but once the cost is low enough to integrate asphalt with solar panels that can send a charge to cars while they're driving over it we'll be back to the good old days when a low voltage battery means you gotta drive your car around to get it charged up again.

 

Solar Roads: Can Streets Become Giant Solar Panels? | National Geographic - YouTube


Video of an actual charging road in action

 

Bob Wilson

 

it's a fun experiment. how many decades have we been try to repair existing roads?

 

You can call inductive charging 20% slower or you can call it 10-20% more expensive by upping the KW in order to achieve the same speed. Then there's this big cludge of a charging appliance in the bottom of your garage floor that you get to trip over when the car is not there.
Sounds great - right?
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