Future Prius PHEV May Have Wireless Charging

September 26th, 2013 by Nicholas Brown

Electric vehicle charging stations have mostly utilized power cords, which are very cheap, reliable, and effective. However, wireless charging takes convenience to a whole new level, and makes public charging more attractive.

Imagine if your gas-powered car could automatically top itself up every time you parked at home, at a shop, or at a restaurant, even in the rain. Then you could enjoy the range of a full tank of gas every single day without having to get out and pump it at a smelly gas station. Electric cars are approaching this stage now, and I must say, it is quite cool! Electricity opens some new windows of opportunity.

According to a Toyota press release, Prius PHEV owners expressed an interest in wireless chargers to “avoid the fuss of a cable.” While there is hardly any fuss (compared to filling up at a gas station), wireless charging does have other benefits and is even a bit more convenient, as stated above.

Fedor Selivanov / Shutterstock.com

Addressing this interest, Toyota will begin “verification” of a resonant induction charging system it has been developing in 2014 in the US and Europe.

In the words of Satoshi Ogiso, the managing officer of Toyota Motor Corporation:

We have been listening very carefully to Prius PHV owners over the past two years… and are considering their requests for additional all-electric range.

We have also heard from these owners, that they would like a more convenient charging operation. In response, we are developing a new wireless/inductive charging system that produces resonance between an on-floor coil and an onboard coil to recharge the battery without the fuss of a cable.

Finally, there is a safety concern about the electromagnetic waves produced by the wireless charging systems. However, this is still a grey area to some of us.

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: Europe, Plug-in Prius, Resonant Induction Charging, Satoshi Ogiso, Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation, toyota prius, toyota prius PHEV, US, wireless charging

About the Author

Nicholas Brown writes on CleanTechnica, Gas2, Kleef&Co, and Green Building Elements. He has a keen interest in physics-intensive topics such as electricity generation, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, energy storage, and geography. His website is: Kompulsa.com.

Wayne Williamson

I like this option for people living in condos or apartments…or even for me where I park on my driveway. Give me something that doesn’t cost a ton, is weather proof, and saves time…..
Omega Centauri

Wireless bleh. Bigger battery more range is what I want.
- Jason Willhite
  
  I thought the same thing, but resonant induction charging (similar to the way the South Koreans are doing this for bus transportation system in Gumi) could solve the range issue. Imagine well marked roads and highways having built-in resonant induction charging systems that charge your car while you drive. Essentially your car is being fueld while you drive it. This may sound far-fetched, but there are numerous areas in Asia, Europe and even in McAllen, Texas that are already using this to fuel electric vehicles. With a setup like this, batteries would merely exist in the car to transport the car between resonant induction charging systems.
  - Bob_Wallace
    
    It’s something worth a serious consideration. The Gumi system requires 5% to 15% of the road to be wired. Cables buried 8″ under the road surface.
    
    If we continued with the ~100 mile range EVs we’re now producing and used inductive charging on major travel routes we’d have the problem solved.
    
    Let me stick on a graph that shows how few days we drive more than the range of today’s EVs.
    
    No big batteries to purchase or haul around. No stopping to charge.
    - Jason Willhite
      
      Bob, I agree. I do think it’s easy for consumers to have range anxiety when it comes to electric vehicles, even though the data shows that a common driver’s everyday needs could be met with ~100 mile range EV. I think the wireless charging via the road on highways and interstates could really alleviate the long distance range anxiety.
      I was pleased when reading about the Gumi public transportation about how they were able to build it using only a small percentage of the road to be used for charging. I was thinking about here in Arkansas, we’re redoing most of I-40 (the largest highway through the state) and I was thinking, “Shucks, in a perfect world we could add the inductive charging into the highway project taking place right now and have one of the few major highways in Arkansas be ready to go…”. Alas, we don’t live in a perfect world
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        I’d like to see some cost estimates for wiring, say, a five mile stretch every 25 miles.
        
        I’d bet people would be content with paying some fairly high charging costs if it allowed them to skip buying more expensive batteries. Even if they paid 40 cents per kWh that would still be less expensive than driving an average MPG car with $3.59/gallon gas.