http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2010/10/29/electric-vehicle-drive-up-and-re-charge-scheme-unveiled/
You may have recently seen commercials for phone chargers on the television for a similar system; where you must simply place the phone, that is in a specially designed case, onto a pad and the phone begins to recharge its battery. Well a similar idea is being developed for electric cars using inductive power transfer to recharge the electric car's battery when parked. Essentially, there would be an induction pad integrated into the parking spot and a specially designed car, with presumably coils, to help generate the magnetic field from the parking spots current and thus in turn create voltage. The idea is rather well known as induction was discovered in the early 1800's, but applying it to the electric automotive field is still very new. I think this will become quite popular as it greatly increases the practicality of electric cars, as the tedious plugging and unplugging is eliminated. Although the technology will probably cost more, it is still a very unique concept as it further advances the utilization and practicality of the electric car closer to that of the petrol car. The idea is simple, but the scale is rather large and difficult. My concern is whether there are any safety issues that would deem this too dangerous a system? The electric car infrastructure is still relatively new, so if this is feasable to integrate it on a mass scale I think it is a great idea and may be another incentive for more and more people to purchase more environmentally friendly electric cars.
I think would make it easier for people who have electric cars, and would also give an incentive for those who don't have electical cars, as Guillaume said. I am sure there are many safty issues with this technology, as with any new technology. one issue i see this techonology having is people running over the pad. I am sure they could ruggedize the pad, but that could lead to making the pad more expensive. I am sure, however, that once they get these issues resolved this technology will make the integration of electrical cars easier.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this has the potential to be a really great technology once all the finer details are worked out. It could make electric cars more attractive because it at least lowers the fear of running out of charge. If you could charge your car whenever you parked, many people would be a lot less afraid of running out of charge. I think if this gets further developed and implemented on a small scale there will be a higher demand for electric cars. I'm curious about how much something like this costs. The charging pad would need to be able to support the weight of a car and charge it; to me that sounds like a lot of money. If it is expensive would it be economical to implement technologies like this? I think this sounds really cool, but that article didn't have enough information about for me to fully believe in it at this point.
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