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When we buy a new smartphone, or an exciting new electric vehicle, the first thought is never “I can’t wait to charge it.” The burden of charging is in fact pervasive to any device or product that has a battery. Yet the act of charging is actually contra-usage, it is time taken away from the actual enjoyment of the product for which we have spent hard-earned cash.
At WiTricity we aim to make the charging of one’s devices or vehicles seamless, making charging just a natural act in the course of typical usage. Drive your electric vehicle into the garage, and it just starts charging. Place your smartphone on your desk, kitchen counter or bedside table and it just starts charging.
At WiTricity, we have a vision to power life, wirelessly. Our technology scales from milliwatts to kilowatts, powering devices from small wearable or implantable devices through phones and notebooks computers all the way up to full electric vehicles and beyond.
There are four key capabilities of resonant wireless power that uniquely deliver compelling user experiences.
The first is Spatial Freedom. Your electric toothbrush uses induction, similar to the technology of a transformer. With induction, two matching coils must be precisely oriented to each other and be effectively touching for power to transfer. This is why your electric toothbrush must be precisely placed on a stand. With resonance, you have flexibility to position the device, left/right/up/down, moving power over distance and enabling the casual “drop-and go” charging that is central to a positive user experience.
The second is charging multiple devices. With resonance, from one PTU power source, you can charge multiple devices at the same time. Each device, as it arrives at the source, can efficiently draw the power it needs. In our connected lives with multiple battery-powered devices, having a common charging source that can feed all our devices is again central to a positive user experience.
The third key capability is transmitting power through materials. We’ve already established that resonance can move power over a distance, but that can also be through wood, stone, glass, concrete, asphalt and the like. The PTU charger can be mounted under a desk, or embedded in the concrete of a garage floor or roadway. While metal has traditionally been viewed as a barrier to the magnetic fields utilized in resonance, WiTricity has developed the expertise to create tuned magnetic windows and now supports metal backed devices.
Finally, the fourth key capability is the scaling of resonant power transfer to low and high power levels. WiTricity can deliver low power (milliwatts) and small size needed for applications such as hearing aids all the way up to EV charging at 11kW and beyond. The power level scales with the size of the resonators, and thus we benefit from the fact that smaller devices–with smaller resonators–tend to need less power and larger devices—with room for larger coils—require more power.
Our philosophy is that we deliver the seamless convenience of wireless power at the same power level as would have been expected by plugging in. Not trickle charging, not twice as long to charge, no tradeoffs.