Following up on the recent news about the SAE’s new standard for wireless electric vehicle charging, here’s another sign that the age of the “plug-in” car has an end in sight.
To be sure, this end will take a while to arrive, but when we look back at the dawn of the EV era in a few decades, we’ll see that the way we fill up our cars followed the same trajectory as we went through (i.e., are still going through right now) with cell phones. The latest smartphones still allow for a wired charge, but those wireless charging pads are becoming more and more common.
That’s the trend that Witricity is looking to capitalize on with a new $34-million funding round that was led by Stage 1 Ventures and included a strategic investment by Mitsubishi Corp (Americas). Witricity says the investment will allow it to continue to develop wireless charing technology as well as “expand its intellectual property portfolio, and capitalize on the commercial momentum for wireless charging for electric vehicles (EVs) and in the broader mobility market.”