New Technology: Wireless charging for Electric Vehicles

Since the world is facing an increase in emissions of CO2 in our atmosphere and depletion of our fossil fuels viz. petroleum products have led to increase in the adoption rate of Electric Vehicles among consumers over IC engine powered vehicles. Just to make people aware about the benefits and how pollution caused due to emission from these IC engine powered vehicles can be controlled, the Ministry of Transportation of various developed and developing countries has come up with a solution for adoption of Public Transport as electric vehicle like City buses, taxis, etc. in their metropolitan cities especially.

For the proper functioning of an EV, it needs to be charged on daily basis, which is quite reasonable and less expensive than refueling their IC powered technology vehicles with gasoline all the time. These rechargeable cells are usually Lithium-ion batteries which are used in the Electric Vehicles which store the energy and helps the functioning of the vehicle. 

There are basically three types of charging available:-

• Level one charging (120 volts): This uses the same 120-volt current found in the standard household outlets (in USA) which can be done with the help of power cord which is very common in most EVs. The advantage of this method is no installation cost is required if your EV is parked next to the electric outlet but this leads to slow charging of the EV (i.e., 3-5 miles of range per hour).

Source: whe.org

• Level two charging (240-volts): This method uses standard household outlets (in India), but this leads to faster regeneration of an EV’s battery system. For this type of charging, it requires installation of an EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) unit and electrical wiring which is capable of handling higher voltage power. The advantage to this method is that it is more energy efficient than level 1 and gain 3% efficiency.

Source: whe.org

• DC Fast charging (480-volts): This type of charging provides compatible vehicles with an 80% charge in just 30-60 mins by converting high voltage AC power to DC power for direct storage in EV batteries. The advantage of DC fast charging is the time is reduced drastically.

Source: whe.org

Nowadays, the wireless EV charging is one of the cutting-edge technologies that has come into limelight and that is fiercely being developed and adapted by Automobile Industry and it could be a game changer for the electric car industry.

Well the question here arises is that, “What is wireless charging?” This technology is based on inductive charging which involves electricity being transferred via an air gap between two magnetic coils. It is very similar to wireless phone chargers working, but here the scale is significantly large. Thus, the car has to be in proximity to the charging coil in order for the energy transfer to take place.

There are various benefits of wireless charging:

•  Charging stations are not required as there is no need to insert the cable with wireless charging which is quite user-friendly approach.
•  As the charging points have increased, the size of battery can be reduced which doesn’t need to last longer which eventually reduces the overall cost of the Electric Vehicle (EV).

Nissan is currently working on wireless charging technology for the EV segment Nissan LEAF. Although it comes with a DC fast charger for charging of the vehicle but with this advancement in the technology, the EV can be parked always at a designated location where it can be charged wirelessly.

Source: greenerideal.com

The wireless charging technology of EV too have few drawbacks such as:-

• Small amount of energy loss takes place while transferring although this technology is very much power efficient by 93-94%.
• Building the infrastructure for wireless charging to roadways and implementing the infrastructure makes no economic sense and it might be difficult to build in densely populated urban areas as well. 

Source: electrek.com

Link transit is operating wireless charging for electric city buses since 2018. Wireless charging is being considered the most effective way of charging an electric public transportation as it can be seen in Momentum Dynamics in US which has 10 new Link Transit electric buses with wireless charging receivers. The wireless chargers are built in such a way, that the charging infrastructure is embedded at each bus stop of that bus route which is marked for the bus to stop for picking up the passengers from their stop. Whenever the bus reaches its stop to receive passengers, it stops in the painted area marked on the bus stop where the bus needs to stopped. During that time, 5 mins of charging with the wireless charging system automatically adds enough energy to the vehicle’s battery which eventually helps the electric bus to carry out the operation without going back to the depot for charging. This wireless charging is so much efficient that by the end of the day, the bus ends up with at least 60-70% of charging which will save time and the buses can start their operation the very next day at stipulated time without any further delay.

Source: siemens.com

Even Siemens have come up with a technology of charging their Electric buses/trucks with the help of Pantograph at their bus stations after their route completion.

Source: siemens.com

They have also come up with the e-Highway in Germany for freight transport in which the electrification is being done of the highways like railway lines. This is major step taken in order to reduce the pollutants and CO2 emissions. In that, the Electric Truck/ Trailers can charge their battery with just lifting the pantograph while driving. This pantograph can be easily connected and disconnected from the contact wire at speeds ranging from 0-90 Km/h.

This technology is designed in such a way that the truck/trailer can automatically disconnect the contact wire after charging. This will eventually save up time for charging your EV either wirelessly or with a connector.

So, this is quite efficient way of charging an EV (truck/buses/trailers/cars) without wasting anytime, which is very much mobile, with less infrastructure costing and ecofriendly as well. This can be considered another step towards saving the environment by making it safe for everyone and changing the face of Automobile Industry.