While every battery manufacturer is struggling to make their product compete with the other’s, and finally give the future electric cars a higher mileage, a German supplier of electronics and powertrain design to most of the major automakers for the last 25 years gives a solution to both the battery and the car manufacturers. The company is called IAV (Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr), and their solution is to charge the electric cars on-the-go through electromagnetic induction.
The idea is not new, since Nissan already had an idea of wireless charging stands for garages. Also, EV1’s charging system was working through electromagnetic induction, and so is your electric toothbrush (if you have one). But the people at IAV have braver thoughts, and say that their charging system will be commercially available in as little as 3 years, just in time to collaborate with more car manufacturers that will have electric vehicles on their production line.
Recharging through electromagnetic induction has its drawbacks, too. While others have obtained efficiencies of 80% at a distance of 1cm from the ground (hard to get in real life conditions), and 60% at 12cm to the ground, IAV has achieved a 90% efficiency by using recessed electrical conductors that generate the magnetic field. Of course, those fields are only activated by a sensor detecting the presence of an electric car and of a billing authorization that would identify your EV, so you can pay for the electricity.
This charging system gives us a good solution in 99.99% of the time, but poses some dependence and privacy problems. What if… and you may think further…
