Swiss tests show wireless charging works for electric cars

Wireless charging works for electric cars according to initial tests Keystone-SDA

Electric cars could soon be charged without cables after Swiss researchers tested the inductive charging of e-cars in real-life conditions.

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Wireless charging works just as efficiently as the conventional method with cables, as the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) announced on Wednesday.

Inductive charging uses magnetic fields to transfer energy directly from a coil installed in the ground to the vehicle. This technology is already known from wireless chargers for mobile phones.

To test inductive charging, an inductive charging station was set up on the Empa campus in Dübendorf. Several electric cars were also fitted with special receiver coils that can absorb energy from a magnetic field. Following safety tests, the converted vehicles were granted individual licences for Swiss roads.

Precise parking required

In order to start the charging process, the cars had to be parked precisely. If the vehicle is parked correctly, the system recognises the position above the ground-level floor plate and starts the charging process. According to Empa, however, in future a parking assistant will automatically take over the exact parking process.

The Empa researchers investigated how inductive charging affects the battery and efficiency. Tests under real conditions, with snow, rain, temperature differences and slight parking deviations, resulted in an efficiency of around 90%.

According to Empa, this is comparable to the efficiency of charging by cable.

The project, called Inlade, was led by energy supplier Eniwa. It was supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and the cantons of Zurich and Aargau, among others.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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