Volvo testing wireless electric car charging tech in a live city environment
Volvo is the latest manufacturer to test wireless car charging technology in a real-world setting.
It has announced a three-year trial whereby its Volvo XC40 Recharge BEVs will be used by Swedish taxi firm Cabonline and wirelessly charged at stations in major city Gothenburg.
“Testing new charging technologies together with selected partners is a good way to evaluate alternative charging options for our future cars,” said Volvo‘s head of R&D, Mats Moberg.
The system will use technologies develped and built by Momentum Dynamics. It uses charging pads embedded into the road which charge a supporting electric car when parked.
A pad can deliver “more than 40kW” to the adapted receiver unit in the car. This results in a charging time of “four times faster” than a wired 11kW AC charger, claims Volvo.
To optimise the charge, a car has to be parked precisely over the charging pad. The converted XC40 Recharge cars use Volvo’s 360-degree camera system to aid alignment.
This is not the first test of wireless car charging technology in the world. BMW has been performing similiar trials and the UK government held a £3.4 million six-month pilot scheme in 2020 whereby a taxi rank in Nottingham, England could top-up converted cabs while they waited for passengers.
