If you plan on getting yourself a Nissan Leaf, Tesla S, Fisker Karma, or, if you’ve been very, very good, a Mercedes SLS E-Cell, you’d better plan on getting one of these as well—a wireless charging station from Delphi. This allows you to park your vehicle over an embedded charging station—an electric hotspot, if you will—to start charging it.
Delphi, an erstwhile part of the GM kingdom, is a supplier for automotive technology and components. They are working with WiTricity Corp., a “wireless energy transfer technology provider,” founded by a group of MIT scientists, to come up with a wireless charging system that can be integrated into vehicle design and manufacturing.
With the system, there will be no need for plugs or charging cords. You simply park your electric vehicle over a wireless energy source on your garage floor, or perhaps a mall parking slot so equipped, and the system starts transferring as much as 3300 watts. This will be enough to charge an electric vehicle at the same rate as residential plug-in systems. It uses highly resonant magnetic coupling, and is reportedly more efficient than an inductive system (which is how your cordless toothbrush recharges).
It’s a clever concept, and helps ensure that you don’t forget to charge your electric car at night. Now only your cellphone will be dead in the morning. If charging stations become prevalent in public parking spaces, this will relieve the “range anxiety” that is one hindrance to widespread electric-car use. Now all we need is for ThinkGeek to come up with a T-shirt for electric hotspots.
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