GUANGZHOU — Researchers from Chinese and British institutions have developed a wireless charging system for new energy vehicles with conversion efficiency exceeding 98 percent.
A step in the right direction, maybe? No. It isn’t difficult to plug it in, but wireless charging would bring up interesting possibilities. Maybe in the future we build roads with these charging units in them and allow for indefinite travel as the car charges while it drives?
Apple already thought of an idea like that to charge their devices, but it turns out to generate a huge amount of heat so it doesn’t work. I would expect this to be even worse in cars. At most you could implement wireless charging at stoplights, but the goal of stoplights is not really to stop there for a long time. In any case, a train or tram with electrified tracks or overhead wires is superior in throughput when compared to EVs.
A step in the right direction, maybe? No. It isn’t difficult to plug it in, but wireless charging would bring up interesting possibilities. Maybe in the future we build roads with these charging units in them and allow for indefinite travel as the car charges while it drives?
Apple already thought of an idea like that to charge their devices, but it turns out to generate a huge amount of heat so it doesn’t work. I would expect this to be even worse in cars. At most you could implement wireless charging at stoplights, but the goal of stoplights is not really to stop there for a long time. In any case, a train or tram with electrified tracks or overhead wires is superior in throughput when compared to EVs.
Stepping stones. Just because it’s bad now, doesn’t discount its future merit. We have a nasty habit of letting perfection be the enemy of progress.