REPORT: Nissan bringing wireless charging to electric cars
Nissan Pivo 2 – Click above for high-res image gallery
Upper-level Nissan executives like Minoru Shinohara (pictured above right with the Pivo 2 concept), the senior vice president of the technology development department, have talked about wireless charging for Nissan's upcoming electric vehicles for almost a year now. A plug-free electric car is becoming more than just talk, though, as a new piece in the Guardian shows.
Inductive charging – which uses electromagnetic fields and coils that interact but never touch – is currently used for things like electric toothbrushes and artificial hearts. Nissan now says that it has successfully scaled the wireless charging system up for use in its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) electric car. The ZEV can now charge in a special parking spot without needing any wires. Inductive charging is still less efficient than wired charging, but for easy, on-the-go recharging, inductive charging offers a lot of potential – and a lot of unanswered questions. Perhaps we'll learn more when Nissan shows off the ZEV in early August.
Gallery: Nissan Pivo 2
[Source: Guardian]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randy C. 5:49PM (7/20/2009)
"inductive charging offers a lot of potential – and a lot of unanswered questions" Like what is the high frequency E/M field going to do to electronics not in the car like cell phones? A strong enough field could erase your debit/ATM card. What are the long term health effects of being exposed to such a field considering the links between childhood cancer and HV power lines and cell hpones and brain cancer?
It looks good on paper, just drive up and park. But technologically is going to waste just as much if not more energy as it puts into the car. i.e. Car gets a 3Kw charge while an other 3Kw is lost to inefficiency. The mangnacharger had the same problems, the poor coupling of the paddle limited power flow and in one case set a EV1 on fire (took out half of the garage too). Later versions of the EV1 had a liquid cooled charger port.
Lets get EV's on the road first and see how it goes from there before we try to reinvent the battery charger..
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Ernie 2:54PM (7/21/2009)
EM radiation? How about powerful magnetic fields?
Personally I wouldn't want to have spare change in my pockets around these, because it would result in large holes being torn in my pants. And maybe the iron in my blood too.
jpm100 5:56PM (7/20/2009)
I think the PUMA just lost its crown.
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Dolphyn 11:37PM (7/20/2009)
Here it is in motion, a real live talking cartoon car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Ijsfg4tx4
(By the way, Photo #8 in the gallery looks out of place.)
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lazybones 8:08PM (7/21/2009)
But on the plus side imagine a system like this embedded in major freeways. Imagine your car being charged while on the move.
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