Volvo developing cordless charging

Ther time may come when battery cars such as this Volvo C30 Electric will be recharged by simply driving them over inductive charging plates buried in the road.

Ther time may come when battery cars such as this Volvo C30 Electric will be recharged by simply driving them over inductive charging plates buried in the road.

Published May 19, 2011

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Soon plugging in your battery car for a recharge may be as outdated as carrying jerry-cans of petrol on a long journey. Volvo and Belgian tech specialists Flanders' Drive are collaborating on a system that won't need power sockets or charging cables - with inductive charging, energy is transferred wirelessly to the car's battery from a charging plate buried in the road surface.

Project manager Johan Konnberg explained: “The aim is that it should be as convenient as possible to own and use an electric car.”

A Volvo C30 Electric has been delivered to Flanders' Drive to be modified for inductive charging, which also marks the formal start of the project, entitled CED (continuous electric drive).

And this is how it works: A charging plate is buried in the ground, for instance in the driveway at home where the car is usually parked. The plate has a coil that generates a magnetic field and, when the car is parked above the plate, energy is transferred without physical contact to an inductive pick-up under the car.

This is then converted into direct current in the car's built-in voltage converter, which in turn charges the car's battery pack. Charging a 24kWh battery pack such as the one in a Volvo C30 Electric from flat is expected to take about an hour and twenty minute.

Several automakers and technology companies are researching this field but as yet nobody has brought a finished product to market.

Konnberg said: “There's no common standard for inductive charging yet.”

He emphasised the importance of being involved in development to build expertise.

He said: “One aspect of this project is to integrate this technology into the road surface and to take energy directly from there to power the car - but that's a smart solution that's still some way into the future.”

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