Inductive charging is coming!

[ARvanHAS]

 

[5teep]

I can see stationary chargers like this working well in every city.

 

[Alb]

That was fascinating as far as the technology goes. I'd also assumed that it would be less efficient than a wired charger but apparently not so.
From a practical perspective though, it's difficult imagining it being adopted other than in bespoke situations.
It would be interesting to see the logical development of this i.e. charging on the move.

 

[Coulomb]

it's difficult imagining it being adopted other than in bespoke situations.

Maybe. But if they make a standard for it, and it can be added for only say £500 per vehicle, then the higher spec cars might just come with it by default, or as an option. That might break the chicken and egg cycle: no point installing pads because no cars have them; no point putting in the receiver in the car because there are no pads out there.

The receiver would essentially be a coil of wire, a fast rectifier, and some way of communicating with the charger. I imagine that most of the high power electronics will be in the back office; essentially all the power would be transferred to the battery. So it's a rapid charger with a cordless cord, so to speak.

Hilarious that they have to detect metal that rolls under the car.

Nightmare scenario: a £20 note blows under the iPace as it's wirelessly charging, and a pedestrian with a prosthetic or pins/screws reaches under the car to get it. Or s/he uses their watch hand, or is wearing a metal bangle or even a ring. Those thermal detectors had better be quick to detect and quick to shut off the power. I think it needs flashing LEDs at door sill level or some such to somehow signal danger. But people might misinterpret, and go investigating. Definitely needs some thinking through.

Or as you say, maybe this will be restricted to bespoke situations.

 

[Fluffykins]

Hilarious that they have to detect metal that rolls under the car.

Nightmare scenario: a £20 note blows under the iPace as it's wirelessly charging, and a pedestrian with a prosthetic or pins/screws reaches under the car to get it. Or s/he uses their watch hand, or is wearing a metal bangle or even a ring. Those thermal detectors had better be quick to detect and quick to shut off the power. I think it needs flashing LEDs at door sill level or some such to somehow signal danger. But people might misinterpret, and go investigating. Definitely needs some thinking through.

I wonder how they distinguish between random bits of conductive debris and the presence of a car - or bits of a slightly misaligned "real" car.

 

[JPL Sussex]

It will prevent pads being iced - the ice cars will just heat up and explode!!!

 

[Halchemy]

The chap explaining things has a vested interest in selling the system and may be a tiny bit biased. I'm fairly sure, from what I remember about inductive coupling in 'Electro-tech' lectures 45 years ago, that it will have losses in the system greater than a simple good quality cable connection. Have Tesla tried it?

 

[Mike01Hu]

Maybe. But if they make a standard for it, and it can be added for only say £500 per vehicle, then the higher spec cars might just come with it by default, or as an option. That might break the chicken and egg cycle: no point installing pads because no cars have them; no point putting in the receiver in the car because there are no pads out there.

The receiver would essentially be a coil of wire, a fast rectifier, and some way of communicating with the charger. I imagine that most of the high power electronics will be in the back office; essentially all the power would be transferred to the battery. So it's a rapid charger with a cordless cord, so to speak.

Hilarious that they have to detect metal that rolls under the car.

Nightmare scenario: a £20 note blows under the iPace as it's wirelessly charging, and a pedestrian with a prosthetic or pins/screws reaches under the car to get it. Or s/he uses their watch hand, or is wearing a metal bangle or even a ring. Those thermal detectors had better be quick to detect and quick to shut off the power. I think it needs flashing LEDs at door sill level or some such to somehow signal danger. But people might misinterpret, and go investigating. Definitely needs some thinking through.

Or as you say, maybe this will be restricted to bespoke situations.

I'll keep clear with my pacemaker too, as I doubt that I'll accelerate to 60mph in 3s other than in heading to the ground, flat on my face, dead!

 

[5teep]

Metal will only be affected by an induction charger if it's ferrous, i.e. magnetic. check with your doc but I don't think pacemakers have ferrous metal in them.

 

[Halchemy]

Metal will only be affected by an induction charger if it's ferrous, i.e. magnetic. check with your doc but I don't think pacemakers have ferrous metal in them.

There are IIRR special pacemakers available for people who work in environments with strong electro-magnetic fields.

 

[Mike01Hu]

Metal will only be affected by an induction charger if it's ferrous, i.e. magnetic. check with your doc but I don't think pacemakers have ferrous metal in them.

The intense magnetic field necessary for inductive charging will affect most electronic devices that are subjected to it to various extents. It does not have to be ferrous as a current can be induced in any conductive metal by that field. Ferrous materials are used to focus the magnetic energy but there will always be "leakage" around the source; those who have induction hobs, the same technology, may have experienced the effect. My pacemaker instructions warns against such magnetic fields. I was being light hearted if you'll excuse the pun!