INDUCTIVE CHARGING
www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com // July 2019 // 57
charging to begin. But there is far more to the
technology than just cable-free convenience.
Range anxiety
“Wireless charging has massive benefi ts,” says
Richie Frost, group CEO of British technology
company Sprint Power. “The uptake of EVs and
alternative fuels systems is reliant on the
infrastructure – nobody is going to buy an EV
if there is nowhere to charge it.”
His low-carbon vehicle engineering
company in Birmingham, is also working with
OEMs to produce a bespoke wireless system.
In a boost to the company, and UK charging
scene, it has just been awarded £2.4m (US$3m)
from the UK Government to develop wireless
charging platforms for electric vehicles and has
been tasked with demonstrating the suitability
of wireless charging technology in light
commercial vehicles.
Frost believes that technology off ers a
solution to one of the biggest barriers to EV
ownership – range anxiety. “We are now
electrifying everything – cars, buses, trucks –
but the issue is whether the end user can
recharge these vehicles,” he says. “Wireless
provides more opportunities for this. Think of
taxis at ranks, parking spaces at a supermarket,
or even when a vehicle stops at tra c lights,
these are all places owners can recharge.”
And in the future, Frost says wireless
charging could even further by taking place
while on the move as a result of having
chargers embedded in road surfaces: “Of
AFTERMARKET
OPPORTUNITIES
There are already several
aftermarket solutions on the
wireless charging scene.
Plugless Power, developed
by Virginia based Evatran,
was the first commercially
available wireless EV
charger. Launched in 2014,
it can be retrofitted to many
EVs, such as the Nissan Leaf
and Tesla Model S.
However, aftermarket
solutions suffer from
similar standardization
issues to cable solutions.
Nevertheless, Richie Frost
of Sprint Power believes
once standards have been
agreed, there could be many
opportunities in this sector.
“There’s a big potential
aftermarket. There are
hundreds of thousands of
EVs already out there that
cannot recharge wirelessly,”
he explains. “Think of fleet
cars, for example. There are
electric taxis driving around
that don’t have wireless
chargeable capabilities.
There’s already a big market
for a retro-fit solution out
there, definitely.”
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