ACEA, the European car manufacturers’ association, is pushing carmakers to adopt a common standard for charging their plug-in vehicles. And that’s a noble goal, since it will reduce complexity and costs and will eliminate many of the EVs restrictions.
The association’s proposal, however, may be too little, too late. Mitsubishi has teamed up with IHI and WiTricity to develop an easily deployable wireless charging system for electric vehicles, eliminating the need for plugs and cords.
The system works by allowing transfer of energy from a source placed on or under the ground to a vehicle equipped with an energy capture device. The process of charging begins automatically once the car is parked, without any need for contact between the car and the charging source.
In case you are wondering if this is possible, WiTricity has already brought to market a magnetic resonance wireless charging system that delivers up to 3.3 kW of power over a distance of 20 cm (eight inches) with an efficiency rate of more than 90%.
Witricity CEO Eric Giler said that “electric vehicles offer great potential for reducing CO2 emissions. However they must be user friendly, and wireless charging greatly improves the user experience”.
Osamu Masuko, president of Mitsubishi, commented: “Mitsubishi is happy to enter into a new phase of electric vehicle infrastructure development. Along with WiTricity and IHI we can quickly make widespread wireless charging a reality” while his counterpart at IHI, Kazuaki Kama, added that “user friendly wireless charging will contribute to the widespread adoption of EVs, which is an important step forward for the 21st century society.”
