11 Billion Electric Miles In USA, 1 Million Wireless EV Charging Hours
The world’s wireless EV charging leader, Plugless (parent company = Evatran), has been tracking some fun figures and recently shared some electric vehicle milestones with CleanTechnica. The first was that the Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, and Tesla Model S have jointly logged nearly 10 billion electric miles (according to estimates, since no one has the precise figure at their fingertips), and all modern EVs have now logged over 11 billion electric miles.
That’s 11 billion miles driven on electricity since 2010.
These charts, of course, highlight how much the US electric car market has been dominated by just a few brands and models to date.
If you look at the following graph, it’s also striking how extremely close the Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt have tracked each other. The Volt’s lead is spreading out a little bit now due to much higher sales since the second-gen Volt was released, but the release of a second-gen, long-range Nissan LEAF at the end of this year could again tie those two lines closer together. Of course, skyrocketing Model S sales could lead to a more dramatic crossover down the road — or not. We’ll see.
Probably the most exciting part, though, is the overall growth trend. The graph below doesn’t show the end of the story — it shows the beginning. Can you imagine where that line is headed?
Ford, at 8% of the country’s EV miles, is clearly far behind the “Big 3.” Steve Hanley on sister site Gas2 made note of this in his coverage of the news. “At a time when auto executives like Ford’s Mark Fields are whining constantly that no one wants to buy an electric car, the figures indicate that actually quite a few Americans do want to and are racking up electric miles at an exponentially expanding rate.”
Hmm….
The 1st Wireless EV Charger To Charge Consumer Electric Cars For 1 Million Hours
The above is fun general news about the US electric car market and growth, but I’m sort of burying the lede here, as I think it’s wickedly amazing that wireless EV chargers from Plugless have now provided EV drivers in the US with 1 million hours of wireless charging. That’s awesome.
In a separate email sent to CleanTechnica and published as a press release, Plugless noted the various firsts the company has now hit:
◊ 1st wireless EV charging field trials — From 2012 to 2014 Plugless systems were rigorously testing in the field at more than a dozen “Apollo” trial partner sites — including installations at Google, Duke Energy, and Hertz.
◊ 1st production wireless charger available for purchase by EV owners — In 2014 Plugless began selling 3.3kW wireless EV chargers for Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF. Plugless continues to be the only wireless EV charger for sale to consumers in the world.
◊ 1st wireless EV charger installed on a production fleet of driverless shuttlebuses — In 2016 Plugless was installed on a fleet of a leading fully autonomous shuttlebus company based in Europe.
◊ 1st 7.2kW wireless EV charger available for purchase — In 2016 Evatran introduced the 2nd Gen Plugless system loaded with enhanced features and more than doubling the power to 7.2kW.
◊ 1st Production System available to Tesla Model S owners for autonomous charging — The first integration of the 2nd Gen Plugless system begins shipping to customers in late 2016.
◊ 1st wireless EV charger designed for interoperable across Tesla and other EVs — The 2nd Gen Plugless system is designed to charge Tesla Model S and any EVs upgraded with a 2nd Gen Plugless systems in the future.
◊ 1st production wireless EV charger to inductively charge a Chinese production EV — In December 2016, the 2nd Gen Plugless system charged a JAC iEV6S (a SUV) across a six-inch (150mm) air gap. The demonstration system allows for 10 inches (254mm) of roadway clearance, a necessity in China.
◊ 1st license-free demonstration system available for purchase — In 2017 Plugless begins sales of 3.6kW and 7.2kW demonstration systems to electrified transportation companies and research groups looking for an affordable way to leap-frog inductive charging development costs.
Plugless added that the company has a couple more goals regarding firsts it’s eyeing (and basically guaranteed to achieve):
◊ We’ll be the first to wirelessly charge a summoned Tesla Model S — fully autonomous charging for fully autonomous vehicles.
◊ We fully expect to be the first wireless EV charging in series production with a major OEM (I cannot elaborate on this in any way).
Hmm, interesting…. 😀
By the way, want a discount on a Plugless charging system for a Tesla Model S? Plugless notes, “To celebrate surpassing the 1-million hours charged mark this month, Plugless is offering an instant rebate of $600 on the premium Plugless system for Tesla Model S. Information on Tesla Model S charging and instant rebate can be found at: http://www.plugless.com/tesla“
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