Wireless Vehicle Charging

16

Description

If driving into a parking spot with a wireless connection to a Tesla port charger, the car can connect wirelessly to charge quickly.

Competitive/Pricing/Notes

It may cost more in system upgrades but probably won’t be much.

Moderator: Tesla stated in 2015 that wireless charging will not be available primarily due to the power losses that wireless charging at the level needed to charge the car.  Perhaps design improvements could make them reconsider.  They acquired (and then sold) a wireless charging company in 2023, so they may be reconsidering it.

Bosch now sells a Plugless charging system for the Leaf and Volt for $3,000. It’s not stated how much power it provides, but a full Leaf charge takes 8 hours. It can be inferred that it is quite a bit lower power than the Tesla home chargers, as these cars have small batteries.

A wireless supercharger would be cool, but the losses could be significant with such high power levels, and the costs to each vehicle could add several thousand dollars to the retail price.

Status

Unknown.

lightly edited by moderator
Category: CY3XS Applies to:
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     Created 7-Nov-2014
Tesla Taj
-34

8 Comments

@Greg:

You may have free power, but power isn't free.  Tesla's goal is to save the environment, and if you waste power, even at night, your still wasting power.
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    Created 4-May-2019
Jean-Claude D
205
I disagree, Wireless charging using Resonant Magnetic Coupling is very efficient. My company developed a 120kW charger with an efficiency of 94.6%. For home use 10-15kW corresponds to a 48 to 72 A EVSE.

For this to gain widespread adoption, interoperability is required between charging stations and car modules. The J2954 standard is being finalized.

We've started analysis work on V2G (two-way wireless power transfer).
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    Created 31-May-2016
EricZ
235
With apologies to Heinlein, TANSTAFE.
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    Created 4-Mar-2015
ElectricBlue
0
I prefer the snake. Especially for unplugging it could be fairly simple to implement and that would reduce the amount of "plugging" by half. It wouldn't even need to be actuated by servos if it only unplugs. Just strong springs and some vibrator module (if you pull before the latch is opened it will lock the latch and you won't be able to remove the power plug)...
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    Created 27-Jan-2015
Erik de Bruijn
282
Charging efficiency is always important.  One of the main reasons we buy Teslas is to reduce our energy usage.  Wasting it on inefficient charging would be a huge step backwards.

I've always thought it would be simpler to just have a couple of contacts on the front bumper that would connect to a charger mounted in the wall in front of the car; just drive slowly until it touches and start charging.  Lots of details to be worked out but it sounds a lot easier than a robotic "snake".
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    Created 3-Jan-2015
BillArnett
52
Charging efficiency is always important.  One of the main reasons we buy Teslas is to reduce our energy usage.  Wasting it on inefficient charging would be a huge step backwards.

I've always thought it would be simpler to just have a couple of contacts on the front bumper that would connect to a charger mounted in the wall in front of the car; just drive slowly until it touches and start charging.  Lots of details to be worked out but it sounds a lot easier than a robotic "snake".
link
    Created 3-Jan-2015
BillArnett
52
This is something I would pay for to have installed in my garage depending on the price.  I have "Free" electricity (TXU) from 10pm to 6am so the charging inefficiency is irrelevant.
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    Created 3-Jan-2015
Greg
5
If this is a suggestion for inductive charge coupling, forget it. Too much power loss. Much better is the robotic snake which Tesla is now developing for hooking up automatically.
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    Created 2-Jan-2015
FelixMendeldog
0