Tesla has been working for several months on the development of wireless inductive charging for electric cars. But nothing concrete had yet been revealed, it seems that the American brand has taken a real step forward by buying a company specializing in the field.
Today, you need a charging station and a cable to be able to charge your electric car. While that makes perfect sense, things might end up changing a bit over the next few years. And for good reason, many companies are currently working on the development of wireless charging.
A new breakthrough
This is for example the case of Tesla, which already offers this technology for smartphones, while last December it unveiled an induction charging base for them. But the firm of Elon Musk, which has started the year very well, wants to go even further and offer this technology to owners of electric cars from its catalog. At least that’s what she hinted at earlier in the year.
Last March, the manufacturer organized its Investor Day in order to make several announcements on its strategy revealed an interesting image. This showed a brand car being charged via an induction system. If nothing had been precisely announced, the head of the development of the charging infrastructures Rebecca Tinucci affirmed that ” so we also want to make sure that we continue to focus on amazing charging experiences“.
These therefore undoubtedly include this home inductive charging solution, hitherto never mentioned by the brand. However, it seems that it is already actively working on its development, and this in the greatest secrecy. The American firm would even have planned to take a new step. Indeed, she would be about to acquire the German company Wiferion.
Based in Fribourg, it is precisely specialized in induction charging technology and describes itself as a “Leading supplier of automatic cordless feeding systems“. The company started to designing its products in 2015 and is said to have already provided charging solutions to over 100 companies since its inception.
A practical but not perfect solution
According to an article published on Business Insiderthe German commercial register states that ” the shareholders intend to sell their shares in the company to Tesla International BV by means of a purchase agreement“. A half-word confirmed information by two of the German start-up’s investors, who did not mention the name Tesla, contenting themselves with stating that it was a ” interesting buyer“.
It remains to be seen whether this acquisition will lead to something concrete, but in any case, it will probably be necessary to be patient before knowing a little more. Moreover, this solution is not devoid of defects all the same, since the charge would be notably slower than with a conventional cable, or as fast, but with a slightly lower performance, which would induce additional consumption. Moreover, installation cost is also higherbecause it is also necessary to set up a pad under the car.
This does not prevent several manufacturers from believing in this technology, which nevertheless presents quite limited interest compared to a conventional load. For example, Volvo tested this alternative with XC40s in March 2022, while Nissan has partnered with the London EV Company Limited for full-scale testing. More recently, researchers at Chalmers University in Sweden have developed a wireless charging solution delivering up to 500 kW.
In March, the preparer ABT also lifted the veil on its first induction charger, which will first be compatible with the Volkswagen ID.4. For its part, the Israeli company Electreon is developing a technology to charge its electric car while driving.
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