Comments on: Wireless EV Charging Gets a $4 Million Charge from DOE

By: San Diego Loves Green – Affordable, Wireless EV Charging A-Go-Go

San Diego Loves Green – Affordable, Wireless EV Charging A-Go-Go — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:08:08 +0000

[…] But wait, there’s more. In addition to demonstrating low cost EV wireless charging systems from a fixed position, the DOE project also calls for Evatran and its partners to demonstrate the capability for wireless systems to charge while the vehicle is in motion. […]

By: Dr_Erickson

Dr_Erickson — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:33:00 +0000

Another application / feature to include in the solar roadway concept.

http://www.solarroadways.com/main.html

By: Ross C. Nicholson

Ross C. Nicholson — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:18:00 +0000

Embedded rail systems should increase highway speeds fantastically to double or triple current highway speeds.
Power lines in highways would mean fewer new high voltage power line towers.
Presumably, the electric “rail” embedded into the pavement will involve a steering feedback system to hold the car on the rail–allowing drivers to snooze, with safety releases into rest areas.
Assuming more aerodynamically stable vehicles, speeds could be increased to double or triple current highway speeds. High voltage lines drop 10% to heat losses on average, so this heat inefficiency could be turned into automotive movement.
Now four million will not allow high voltage experiments, but, like I say pound foolish.
Cars are large metal objects moving over an electric field, so some losses move the other way as well and might be captured–but not if nobody thinks of it.

By: Ross C. Nicholson

Ross C. Nicholson — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:38:00 +0000

“The initial goal is to get a wireless EV charging system for parked cars into the mass market within the next ten years, but DOE isn’t stopping there. Ultimately, the agency expects to accelerate the development of road-based wireless systems that will enable you to grab a charge while cruising down the highway.”

$4,000,000.00? Surely such low funding of such a high priority technology is penny wise and pound foolish. America should be funding transportation technology national laboratories and buying ONLY electric vehicle fleets.

By: Ford, GM, Chrysler, and German Carmakers Adopt EV Charging Standard

Ford, GM, Chrysler, and German Carmakers Adopt EV Charging Standard — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:23:18 +0000

[…] the other hand, wireless EV charging could make all of this a moot issue when the next generation of EVs rolls off the assembly […]

By: nimpr

nimpr — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Why not use an intermodal system like http://www.nimpr.org? Recharge while being transported by high speed trains.

By: RobS

RobS — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:52:00 +0000

On a semi related note I had an idea for a different take on the EV tax credit. Instead of cash why not give new EV buyers a free 2kw solar system. Make their purchase a net energy positive to the grid, completely carbon neutral and with bulk buy discounts the government could achieve they could probably get it cheaper than the current $7,500 credit.

By: RobS

RobS — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 01:11:00 +0000

It seems to be a self defeating invention, if you use it for level 2 charging then the slow rate of charging means people would be very unlikely to stay in the vehicle long enough to get much benefit from it and the convenience factor is made redundant. if you use it for level 3 charging then the increased power losses probably make the extra complexity of robotic connector docking worthwhile.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 23:58:00 +0000

I agree that a robotic charger makes sense, especially for Lev3 charging. But the simplicity of gluing a sender to the parking spot surface and wiring it up is likely to be attractive.

(BTW, there are already robotic gas pumps, it’s not like it would be a big technological challenge to do the job with a plug.)

By: RobS

RobS — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 23:28:00 +0000

If you motorise it to lift the plates together you may as well just have the two things robotically dock a connector, it wouldn’t be that much harder and to save 10% of the power used to charge well worth a tiny bit of extra complexity.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:50:00 +0000

Wireless charging is more like 10% lossy. And might be reduced even further by decreasing the area between sender and receiver.

(Imagine a self-parking EV that centers itself right over the outlet and lowers its receiver to where it sits on top of the sending unit.)

Convenience is going to be one of the selling points for EVs. I think a lot of people will spend extra and waste a little electricity just to avoid the plug-in stuff. And I can see people sitting in their cars for 20 minutes while they charge up. Check your email, twit, do all that sort of stuff we spend so much of our time on….

That said, I’m pretty much certain that we’re going to see Level 3 and Level 2 chargers surrounded by opportunities to spend money.

—

Wiring highways – that isn’t making sense to me….

By: RobS

RobS — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:39:00 +0000

I see this as a solution without a problem, EV chargers in public will be at road houses restaurants malls etc. all places where you get out and do something else whilst topping off. I can’t see a scenario where someone is going to use a public charger but stay in their car the whole time. Especially when you consider the losses associated with wireless inductive charging are up to 50% so by not getting out even for ten seconds our charge time doubles as does the power consumed to charge.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I want to see some numbers for installing in-road charging. It hits me as an idea that could work, but also as an idea that isn’t economically feasible.

Copper is expensive. How much would it cost to put in thousands of miles of wire?

Here’s the competition: Affordable EVs with 175 mile minimum range and an adequate number of rapid charge systems along our travel corridors.

We’re likely going to have those EVs within the next five years. We’re installing the charge systems right now.

By: Hope

Hope — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:27:00 +0000

Cue sticky knickers from hauliers everywhere.