The world is moving towards electric vehicles for transportation and subjugating their dependency on fossil fuels. This is in turn also quashing in environmental pollution. But, the problem of electric automobiles is that the large and heavy batteries of the vehicles need hours of recharge before you travel. Moreover, there are only a handful of charging stations that let the drivers park their cars and plug it into a charger. Therefore, came the concept of induction charging, which is based on the scientific process of electromagnetic induction, pronounced by Michael Faraday in the 19th century. By making use of induction coils, the power is carried over the air to charge electric vehicles without the use of wires. An alternating electromagnetic field is produced by the induction coils, which induce electric current to charge the battery of the EV. Another method of wireless charging is resonant coupling. In this the magnetic fields of two pads are coupled with closely matching resonant frequencies to produce electric charge.
wireless charging for electric cars
Trends
1. Evatran Wireless Charging Station
Evatran Wireless Charging Station
With new technologies being discovered almost every day, the obstacles that were confronted by EVs are being surmounted slowly. Electric vehicle technology start-up, Evatran has come up with a new method of recharging your EV with electric juice. Called Plugless Power, it is a new wireless charging system for EVs that makes use of electrical induction. The plugless charging system includes a parking pad over which the car is required to be placed. A control tower keeps a check on the system if working properly and charging your vehicle. There is no particular modification required in the automobile to charge this way, other than a 10-pound adapter mounted to the undercarriage of the vehicle. There is no actual flow of electricity between the parking block and the adapter but instead charge is induced to the batteries generated by electromagnetic field created by the magnetic coil housed in the adapter and parking pad. One can also use a normal plug in system for charging the EV.
2. Volvo Wireless Charging for Electric Cars
Volvo Wireless Charging for Electric Cars
Swedish car maker Volvo is developing wireless charging stations for the electric cars. This project is officially named as Continuous Electric Drive (CED) that allows EVs to charge without any hassle of either power sockets or charging wires. The new technology makes use of inductive charging and thus restoring the EV’s battery power. The application of new technology is simple. A charging plate that consists of a coil to produce magnetic field is embedded within the ground. The EV, the base of which consist of an inductive pick up plate, has to be parked above the plate where the energy produced by the magnetic field is transferred to the car’s battery without any physical contact. The Volvo C30 Electric vehicle is furnished to get power with this new method. It is estimated that C30 would take one and a half hours to be fully charged.
3. Delphi Wireless Charging System
Delphi Wireless Charging System
Delphi, an automotive parts supplier company collaborated with WiTricity, a wireless energy transfer company to build up wireless charging system for electric vehicles. The technology used by the system is based on sharply resonant magnetic coupling. The system constitute of a resonating pad mounted on the ground that carries power to the EV’s battery pack. The power generated by the strong coupling is efficiently transferred without any contact, thus charging the battery of the EV safely and in an easier way without the requirement of any wires and sockets.
The benefits
Wireless charging system has various advantages. Since the technology is based on induction or resonance the need for wires and sockets are eliminated. The wireless systems are pretty safe and the tendency of electric shock is lowered. The wireless techniques are very convenient to use and also save time. The EVs do not require a lot of additional components to adapt to wireless systems. These systems are compatible with existing electric vehicles on the market. As everyone is becoming more receptive to green transportation, wireless charging will make the maintenance of the EVs much easier.
The lowdown
The only major disadvantage of the wireless charging system is the low efficiency of the energy produced. This happens due to loss of some energy during the transfer from coil to coil. The installation cost of the wireless charging system will be higher than the plug in charging methods and therefore poses to be disadvantageous to EV owners.
The impact
Though the efficiency is reduced when a wireless system is used to recharge an EV, but the system provides u the safest and easiest way to juice your electric vehicle with electric power. This system can charge your electric car without any hassle of wires and cables. This system will help to promote green EVs as the technology of induction is completely eco-friendly and requires no electricity at all while the current charging stations might not be supplying green electricity to EVs. And regarding the cost we can only suggest that not all good things come in small packaging.
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