Wireless charging works for smartphones and AirPods, so why can’t it work for cars too? That’s the question Genesis wants to answer with a trial taking place in its native Korea.
The test will include 23 wireless chargers distributed across the country, each providing up to 11 kW of power. So while these won’t top up batteries particularly quickly, they are more powerful than many home chargers, which often run on just 7kW.
Because electric cars can’t be wirelessly charged as standard, Genesis has modified 22 vehicles, including a mix of its GV60, pictured above, and GV70. The trial is expected to demonstrate how conductive and wireless charging can offer benefits to drivers who would prefer not to use a cable.
Instead of laying a cable, either attached to the charger or carried in the trunk, wireless chargers start working when the driver parks the car on top of a floor plate. Genesis describes the trial as a project to “look for opportunities to improve customers’ EV charging experience,” Autocar reports.
There are clear benefits to be had here. Drivers using future wireless chargers may not even have to get out of their car, as parking on top of the charger could be enough to start the charging process.
The lack of logging into a smartphone app or tapping a credit card on the charger would certainly remove a current pain point from the charging experience. But it’s still not a perfect solution. A charge rate of 11 kW is only really suitable for a long charge, possibly leaving the vehicle overnight. The two minutes of cable management saved by a wireless charger may not be worth it when the car will be parked for several hours.
Genesis is not the first to experiment with wireless charging of electric vehicles. BMW has previously offered a driver-charger for home use, and Volvo began a three-year driver-charging trial of its own in 2022. Used by a fleet of Volvo XC40 Recharge cars operating as electric taxis in Gothenburg, Sweden, this system charges the batteries at 40 kW, almost double the power used by the Genesis test.
There is also the question of efficiency. Just like with your smartphone, conductive chargers work by transferring electricity from one charger coil to another connected to the battery, rather than via a cable directly connecting the two. Passing power through the small space between coils (and through your smartphone’s case) isn’t as efficient as plugging it in.
Both tests will aim to discover whether the convenience of a wireless charging system outweighs the efficiency losses.
follow me Twitter or LinkedIn.
