Photo: Honda
New electric vehicle technology is developing with each day passing by and if battery issues might be solved using carbon-carbon technology, all we need now is a simple way to recharge them.
Of course, coming home and having to actually plug the damn thing to a power outlet is way too complicated and you can also forget to do it if you’re in a rush. Rest assured though, as automakers are intensely working on wireless recharging. And Honda just showed its progress so far.
Despite the concept having been invented by Nikola Tesla back in 1891, it is only today that the technology gets to be used for something constructive. Although it sounds like some kind of technology from Star Trek, wireless recharging uses an induction coil to create an alternating electromagnetic field, while a second coil (the one on the car) picks it up and converts it into electricity which gets stored in the battery.
Honda placed such a system in a smart house recently to test it out. The system developed with aid from WiTricity Corp. uses magnetic resonance to transmit power using a specific frequency and it works even if the two coils are a bit offset one from the other.
For example, even if the two coils have a positional error of ±10 cm on the horizontal, ±5 cm on the vertical axis and ±2 degrees offset, Honda said the system will still be 80 to 90 percent efficient.
Currently, the system’s output is at 2.2 kW, just 1 kW lower than a normal plug-in charger, but that can be easily increased in the future when the system will be certified to go on sale, with 2016 being the time envisioned by Honda to happen.
Despite the concept having been invented by Nikola Tesla back in 1891, it is only today that the technology gets to be used for something constructive. Although it sounds like some kind of technology from Star Trek, wireless recharging uses an induction coil to create an alternating electromagnetic field, while a second coil (the one on the car) picks it up and converts it into electricity which gets stored in the battery.
Honda placed such a system in a smart house recently to test it out. The system developed with aid from WiTricity Corp. uses magnetic resonance to transmit power using a specific frequency and it works even if the two coils are a bit offset one from the other.
For example, even if the two coils have a positional error of ±10 cm on the horizontal, ±5 cm on the vertical axis and ±2 degrees offset, Honda said the system will still be 80 to 90 percent efficient.
Currently, the system’s output is at 2.2 kW, just 1 kW lower than a normal plug-in charger, but that can be easily increased in the future when the system will be certified to go on sale, with 2016 being the time envisioned by Honda to happen.
Google News