Standards fuel innovation
by Eric Cohen, WiTricity
Listen to the SAE Tomorrow Today podcast.
Wireless charging is in the news! In a recent staged event, Telsa unveiled its vision for autonomous taxis. Also helping this movement is the development of standards to ensure interoperability. Good news: a global standard for wireless vehicle charging has been set! And more are just around the corner.
On this week’s SAE Tomorrow Today podcast, world-renowned wireless expert Ky Sealy, from WiTricity, provided an overview of the latest wireless developments and offered insights into why widespread passenger and fleet EV adoption will run through wireless charging.
Charging high-power vehicles
Ky delved into the development of standards for high-power vehicles. This is particularly important as more and more fleets electrify for sustainability purposes or to meet zero-emission mandates. Or both! The large pedestals and cumbersome cables of plug-ins can make it difficult for fleet operators to deploy and maintain at scale. Taking up little space at the charging location and free of moving parts, wireless is easier to deploy and maintain. This enables fleets to go electric in ways legacy plug-in charging cannot.
Whether you’re talking about light-duty, heavy-duty, or passenger vehicles, it’s all about global standardization. From the Americas to Europe to Asia – and beyond – wireless charging is now standardized. This is not just for now, but also for future generations of vehicles. Anyone who drives a vehicle will simply park and charge.
Fueling autonomous vehicles
Autonomous robotaxis are only autonomous when charged wirelessly. Can a vehicle that can drive itself – without a steering wheel or brakes – be truly autonomous if someone has to plug it in?
As Ky expresses, “With the technologies that are coming online, the opportunities are amazing. Standardization is an important part of it all. As we move forward with wireless charging for EVs, and as consumers and fleets have an opportunity to experience it, additional features will come. One example is bidirectional charging, which will allow us to help balance the grid. You can’t diminish the importance of this from an electrification point of view as more and more EVs come online and the need for power to fuel the vehicles increases throughout the world. And that’s just the beginning. I look forward to seeing what these standards and technology bring to the world.”
So do we, Ky.