
Wireless EV charging demonstrated in combination with autonomous parking
The demonstration highlights autonomous parking combined with high-power autonomous charging in a commercially-available vehicle. This passenger vehicle demonstration, say the companies, proves the feasibility of charging electric vehicles automatically without the need for human attendance, who are then freed for other activities.
The next phase of development is to advance this technology into other vehicle types and use cases, including fleets, garages, forecourts, and other public charging locations.
“Automatic wireless charging is the inevitable future of EV charging,” says Momentum Dynamics CEO Andrew Daga. “No other system can match the efficiency, cost effectiveness and convenience of truly hands-free high-power wireless charging, where no human or mechanical interaction between the charger and the vehicle is required. Our high-power, modular system means that commercial applications can now be realized at scale and at the lowest operational cost of any type of electric fueling system.”
The demonstration involved overcoming the technical challenge of combining alignment feedback with autonomous parking and then integrating the system into a vehicle in a short period of time. Using Momentum Dynamics’ real-time alignment feedback and CEVT’s automatic parking capabilities, the vehicle was able to automatically maneuver and stop within the alignment tolerance in every test and then begin to charge automatically.
This technology, say the companies, provides an effective solution for the charging of vehicles without the need for human interaction. Wireless charging has clear applications in distributed fleet situations such as last-mile delivery: it is important for fleet efficiency that autonomous delivery vehicles can continue in service while automatically charging in strategic locations, without the need for a person or complex robot to dock the vehicle to a cable-based charging port.
Jörgen Wulfsberg, Director Electrical vehicle charging systems at CEVT says, “We see wireless charging as a strong player in the future of EV charging and the demonstrator that we’ve developed together with Momentum Dynamics has shown the potential of a fully autonomous system. The work with Momentum Dynamics saw technical challenges that have been solved with agility.”
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