Your electric car could soon charge like your smartphone without needing to be plugged in. Tests are underway to pair electric vehicles with wireless chargers, which could revolutionize the concept of electric vehicle charging in the coming year. Pioneering the technology is Hyundai’s luxury car division, Genesis, which has put two of its EVs to the test.
The luxury car brand has begun trialing a conductive charging system to help owners of its electric cars avoid plugging and unplugging their cars and store charging cables inside the car. The tests, which will run until June 2023, are underway in the premium brand’s home market of South Korea.
The technology Genesis uses to provide wireless charging for electric vehicles uses a mat that powers the electric vehicle through a magnetic field. The EV needs to be precisely aligned with the ground-mounted charging pads to ensure charging. It’s similar to the concept of wireless charging for smartphones. Precise placement of the device is required for wireless charging to work.
Genesis plans to install more than 20 charging pads capable of delivering 11 kW of power. The automaker has deployed its flagship EVs such as the GV60 and GV70 to test new technologies. The automaker described the project as a way to “find opportunities to improve customers’ EV charging experience.” “One of the key things we’re going to focus on is speed; our current max power is 11kW, which we feel is too slow, so we want to wait until it gets faster for mass adoption,” said Marc Choi, head of product at Genesis.
If Genesis’ trials come to fruition, and it can keep the technology for itself and build a network of European charging points, it could be a major draw for the luxury car company, similar to Tesla’s Supercharger network.
First published date: April 11, 2023 at 09:32 AM CST
https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/electric-vehicles/electric-cars-set-to-go-smartphone-way-with-wireless-charger-here-s-why-41681184737418.html