INDUCTIVE CHARGING
www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com // July 2019 // 59
4. BMW’s Ground Pad has
been discontinued as of
this summer (2019)
4
CONNECTION ISSUES
E&H Vehicle talks to Tarak Mehta, president of electrification at
ABB about the current and future state of inductive charging
What is your opinion on inductive charging?
Inductive charging sounds and looks very attractive but there
are significant challenges with it. We can’t yet agree on any
one of the plug standards for electricity – inductive charging
requires a much higher degree of standardization.
Could you explain further about these challenges?
The issue is the distance and how parallel things have to be. If
any one of a car’s tire pressures is off by just a little bit, then
precise alignment with the charging plate is compromised.
This is a very difficult challenge. The more power you
need, the bigger the plate has to be, and therefore the
more precision needed for the alignment. Right now,
it’s hard to get it to be cost-effective. The practical
limitations are very high.
Is it a ‘Holy Grail’ technology?
There are many applications where sending power
through the air is ideal, but none of them have really
taken off. It’s not a question of desire, but the efficiency
of the charging that’s the bigger issue. I don’t think it’s the
Holy Grail as there will be problems.
“We can’t yet agree on any one of
the plug standards for electricity –
inductive charging requires a much
higher degree of standardization”
Tarak Mehta, president of electrifi cation, ABB
course, this involves people digging up roads,
but I think this will be the end goal.”
Despite this, only a small number of
OEMs have introduced a wireless
charging system to the EV market.
BMW launched its Ground Pad as a
‘world’s fi rst’ back in May of 2018. It
was released as a leasing option for
the BMW 530e iPerformance, but no
sooner had it hit the market, it was
discontinued as of the summer 2019.
While feedback from the customers was
very positive, BMW says the technology was
currently too expensive, there were too few
inductive charging stations in the public sector
to encourage adoption, and there is a lack of
cross-manufacturer standardization.
“Standards are the main issue,” says Dr
Afshin Partovi, CEO of Mojo Mobility, who has
developed a wireless charging system in
partnership with Hyundai-Kia, installing the
charger in fi ve Soul EVs at the OEM’s Hyundai-
Kia America Technical Center.
“When we started in 2012, people were
investigating the technology to see if it would
work. It has now proven itself to be an e cient
system and it is becoming more mainstream
and starting to get on people’s road maps for
products,” he says. “Testing has been ongoing
for several years, so it has been tested for
everything. People are pretty confi dent that it
is safe and reliable, and in many ways it is a lot
safer than cable charging because cables get
damaged or can be dangerous if you recharge
during inclement weather and are handling
plugs and sockets. But electromagnetic fi elds
have been measured and are well below any
level of concern. So safety is not an issue.”
Mainstream adoption
Dr Partovi claims what is holding widescale
adoption back is that OEMs need to agree on
a set of standards that will allow interoperability
of wireless charging systems, so any car could
recharge over any ground pad.
/www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com