Recent research shows a breakthrough technology, which brings unprecedented speed and power to the charging of wireless cars. This research was completed by a team of engineers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) funded by the federal government in Tennessee, USA. They have developed a new type of wireless charging board, which adopts a lightweight multiphase electromagnetic coupling coil design, and it is said that it can provide an output power of up to 100kW, making the wireless charging speed comparable to some of the fastest wired charging plugs at present.
Although wireless power transmission is nothing new, as early as 1890s, Nikola Tesla demonstrated it, but at present, this technology is mainly used in low-power devices, such as smart phones and tablets. Many modern vehicles are equipped with wireless charging boards in the cockpit to charge these devices. However, so far, most automobile manufacturers are still cautious about applying wireless charging to electric vehicles. Some early tried systems have the problems of insufficient power and slow charging speed, which limit their practicability and popularity.
Tesla is an exception in this regard. Tesla claims to be continuing to develop wireless charging technology, but the details have not been disclosed. Other manufacturers, such as BMW and Genesis, have tried wireless charging technology, but encountered technical obstacles and market demand constraints.
Fortunately, ORNL's new research offers hope. The wireless charging system developed by them can provide up to 100kW of power in a short time and the efficiency is as high as 96%. And it has low energy consumption. According to reports, they even observed up to 120kW of power transmission in laboratory tests, which shows that this technology has further potential.
ORNL's research team claims that their wireless charging system has the highest power density in the world, which is 8-10 times higher than traditional coil technology. This means that more efficient charging can be realized in a short time, which provides greater convenience and flexibility for the use of electric vehicles. Their technology can reportedly increase battery charge status by 50% in 20 minutes, a major breakthrough in the field of electric vehicles.
Photo1: Breakthrough in wireless charging technology for electric vehicles (picture from ORNL)
In addition to high power density, ORNL's polyphase coil design also makes their system one of the most compact, which means it is more practical and convenient. This compact design makes it easier to integrate the wireless charging board into the existing car structure without too many modifications and extra space.
However, despite the many potential benefits of this technology, there are still some challenges to overcome. First, automakers need to be equipped with proper receiver technology to achieve wireless charging, which may increase the weight of cars and affect the cruising range of electric vehicles. Secondly, wireless charging needs to be aligned with the receiver to effectively transmit power, which requires highly accurate alignment, otherwise it will affect charging efficiency.
To sum up, although the research of ORNL has brought a great breakthrough to the charging technology of wireless motor vehicles, it still needs to overcome some technical and market challenges in order to realize its commercialization and large-scale application. However, with the continuous progress of technology and the increasing interest of automobile manufacturers in electric vehicle charging technology, it is believed that wireless charging technology will be widely used and promoted in the future.
