Electric cars set to go smartphone way with wireless charger. Here's how
Your electric cars could soon recharge itself like your smartphone without the need to be plugged in. Tests are underway to pair electric cars with wireless chargers that potentially will revolutionise EV charging concept in coming year. Pioneering this technology is Genesis, Hyundai Motor’s luxury vehicle arm, which has put two of its EVs to test it.
The luxury car brand has begun trial of a conductive charging system to help owners of its electric vehicles avoid having to plug and unplug their vehicles, as well as stow the charging cable in the car. The tests, which will run until June 2023, are being conducted in the premium brand's home market in Korea.
The technology used by Genesis to offer wireless charging of electric cars uses a pad that supplies power to the electric vehicle through a magnetic field. The EV will need to be aligned precisely with the pad, mounted on the ground, to ensure it gets charged. It is similar to the concept of wireless charging for smartphones. One needs to place the device precisely to get the wireless charging to work.
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Genesis plans to install more than 20 such charging pads that can supply 11 kW of power. The carmaker has deployed its flagship electric cars like GV60 and GV70 to test the new technology. The carmaker described the project as a way to 'look for opportunities to improve customers' EV charging experience'. “One of the key things we want to focus on is the speed; we’re currently maxing out at 11kW, which we feel is too slow, so we want to wait until it becomes faster for it to be mass adopted," said Marc Choi, Head of Product at Genesis.
If Genesis' trials prove fruitful and it is able to keep the technology for itself and build a European network of charging points, it would be a major attraction for the luxury car company, similar to the Supercharger network of Tesla.
