Tesla Cybertruck is wireless inductive charging-ready

electrek.co

2 points·dmmalam··6 comments

The losses are too large for this to work in the real world. I don't think anyone (other than money-is-not-a-problem buyers) want to trade the minor inconvenience for a 40% higher electric bill.

That is not something I would bet on. People pay a LOT of money to reduce even the tiniest of inconveniences. People who buy Cybertrucks strike me as likely to pay for such things.

I could imagine such charging being used for small top ups and float charging at least.

I wouldn't replace daily charging at home with it, but it would be worth it a few times per year to skip a charging stop on long trips.

I do wonder if there could be compromises.. say a motorized receiver which lowers when vehicle is above the charging pad.

Then you have basically zero gap when charging (so high efficiency) and normal clearance when driving.

Are you sure your intuition about wireless charging for EVs is correct?

Bjørn Nyland did a test of a wireless charging system vs a wired charging station, measuring at the power input to the charging station. If I remember correctly the wireless charging was actually more efficient. Now, they were clear that the wires charging station wasn’t an ideal scenario. Though I don’t remember the reason why.

The point is, wireless charging can be surprisingly efficient, and wired charging can have surprising inefficiency, to the point where the difference can be negligible in specific cases.

And I’m guessing that once the ball is rolling the efficiency of wireless charging will gradually creep up over time.

With new EV trucks having >100kw packs, and families with 2-4 drivers, yes it's a fair assumption to make. You're looking at a massive cost penalty by going wireless.

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