Plugless Charging for Auto Plants and Dealers

Seen as the next logical step in the evolution of the electric vehicle charging systems (an evolution that moves so fast that regular charging stations are becoming obsolete before even they can be deployed on a large scale), inductive recharging is about to get a major boost in popularity, provided an American company has it its way.

Evatran, so far the most active company when it comes to promoting this type of charging system, announced on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with Tier 1 automotive supplier Yazaki that will lead to the deployment of the charging hubs at auto factories and dealerships.

"This partnership guarantees that our technology will have the highest level of design reviews, performance testing, and vehicle integration engineering," said Rebecca Hough, VP of Sales and Product Development at Evatran. "Yazaki's experience in the automotive industry will ensure our vision for a simple, convenient EV recharging solution comes to fruition."

Evatran's system uses a phenomenon discovered by Andre-Marie Ampere in 1820 and called inductive power transfer. That's the ability of the electric current to produce a magnetic field and transfer it to nearby similar systems.

Inductive power transfer, one of the unfulfilled dreams of Nicola Tesla, will allow EV drivers to pull close to a Plugless Power station and walk away. The station detects the vehicle and electricity begins flowing between the two halves of the transformer embedded into the station, charging the car's battery.

According to Evatran, the time needed to recharge the batteries of an EV will be similar to the one required when using a conventional system.