Americans soon will have a fully automaker-supported car that supports inductive wireless charging. BMW announced Friday that it will soon offer inductive charging in the 2019 BMW 530e iPerformance. In BMW’s current nomenclature, that’s the plug-in hybrid version of its 5-Series sedan. The catch: You’ll need to live in one of 13...
![Oslo taxi stand [Credit: Fortum]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/oslo-taxi-stand-credit-fortum_100702796_t.gif)
If ever there were an argument for wireless charging, taxis may be it. And as with most things in electric cars, if there's a way to demonstrate the technology in action, Norway may find it. That's the impetus behind the country's latest effort to equip all of Oslo's taxi stands with wireless chargers. The city announced the plan in March...
Honda showed off its e Prototype concept for the upcoming Geneva auto show. Volvo unveiled its first all-electric car, the Polestar 2, and we compared it with the Tesla Model 3 Fiat Chrysler announced a new $4.5 million investment to lay the groundwork to begin producing plug-in versions of all of its Jeep products. And our Twitter poll asks if...
In a study released on Tuesday, Volvo and its Harris polling partners found that 29 percent of electric-car drivers wished for more wireless charging. That may or may not be what our readers think. After one of the biggest suppliers of wireless charging, Qualcomm, announced last week that it would sell its Halo wireless charging business to rival...
Last week, news came that could make finally help bring wireless charging to more electric-car drivers. Qualcomm, one of the biggest players sold its Halo wireless charging business to one of its biggest rivals, WiTricity. Not unlike DC fast charging, one of the biggest problems bringing the new technology into widespread use was competing...
Tech giant Qualcomm sells its Halo wireless charging business to rival WiTricity. GM and Amazon could be in talks to invest in startup electric pickup-maker Rivian. A new computer model tests how a 100-percent renewable power grid would have held up to the recent polar vortex. And results of last week's Twitter poll show how you think automakers...
It's one of the worst nightmares for electric-car drivers: They go out to jump in their car, and somebody forgot to plug it in. Automakers and technology companies have talked for years about developing wireless charging, but it hasn't developed in part because of disagreements over standards, and, some would say, patents. CHECK OUT: How much does...
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week announced they've managed to transfer 120 kw of power at an efficiency of 97 percent—more efficiently than any currently available physical charging connection. A version of the 20-kw wireless charging system that the same laboratory previously designed...
The announcements by BMW and Mercedes-Benz that they would offer wireless charging as an option next year raise a question for electric-car advocates. How important is the ability to recharge a vehicle without plugging in a cord? On the pro side, wireless charging may be easier for owners and drivers, who don't have to remember to plug in the...
The announcements by BMW and Mercedes-Benz that they would offer wireless charging as an option next year raise a question for electric-car advocates. How important is the ability to recharge a vehicle without plugging in a cord? On the pro side, wireless charging may be easier for owners and drivers, who don't have to remember to plug in the...
Ask an electric-car owner how long it takes to charge the car, and you may get an answer you didn't expect. "Oh, five or 10 seconds," is a common response from experienced drivers of plug-in vehicles—meaning the time it takes to plug in. Statistically, that happens most often at night, so the car is fully charged and offers maximum range by...
Every one of the modern electric cars on the market for almost seven years requires plugging in a cord to recharge the battery using grid electricity. Inserting the cord into the socket takes just a few seconds, and most cars today are charged overnight. But soon there will be another option: wireless charging, in which the car is positioned over...
It's long been an inspiring futuristic concept: electric cars that can recharge continuously at speed, driving along roadways with built-in inductive charging. Think a modern-day version of slot cars, but at 1:1 scale. Now French automaker Renault has demonstrated a prototype of just such a system, briefly recharging one of its electric cars at 60...
Wireless charging for electric cars has been discussed for some time, but at last it is close to becoming a more realistic option for drivers. Evatran currently markets its Plugless wireless-charging system for multiple electric-car models. But what does it really take to ditch that charging cable—and is it really worth it? DON'T MISS...
Wireless electric-car charging seems to offer a somewhat more convenient experience. Instead of plugging in a charge cord, drivers simply park their electric cars over a pad, usually on the floor of a garage. But what if they didn't even have to do that? DON'T MISS: Plugless charging for 80 percent of electric cars by end of 2017: Evatran Evatran...
The Mercedes-Benz S550e plug-in hybrid luxury sedan will likely be the first production car to offer wireless charging as a factory option. The availability of wireless charging was announced earlier this year by Mercedes as part of a significant update of the current-generation car. We now know that the S550e will use a version of the Qualcomm...
Wireless charging for electric cars has been talked about almost as long as modern electric cars have been on sale. The thought of charging an electric car without having to wrestle with a bulky charging cable can certainly be appealing. So far, though, wireless-charging systems have only been available in limited quantities from a handful of...
NYC-based startup HEVO Power is developing wireless charging stations that blend in with the streetscape.
