VW Announces Wireless EV Charging With Patented Designs
On Tuesday, German automotive industry icon Volkswagen announced that its wireless EV charging program is in the works. The development is being worked on at VW’s Knoxville Tennessee Innovation Hub. Partners include the University of Tennessee (UT), and the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), which have deep expertise in power-electronics optimization and high-power wireless charging.
VW patented its own charging pad and coil design using silicon-carbide materials. The system is targeted in part toward garage use on a daily basis. The charge rates extend into the faster end of the spectrum of the DC fast-charging industry.
(Image: Courtesy VW. Volkswagen researchers are working on new high-power wireless EV charging concepts, including new coil and charging pad designs.)
VW’s first try at wireless EV charging was a Level 2 (240-volt) system using an early 6.6-kw prototype vehicle. Early tests by the company used a silicon carbide inverter, which had a performance level approaching 120 kW. VW’s goal is to increase its wireless EV charging system to a higher capability of 300 kW.
Most wireless EV charging so far has been targeted to homeowners. There are few high-power systems in development or in use at the present time since the technology is currently considered to be new, and investments haven’t caught up to it yet. But significant changes are coming, and there are tremendous opportunities for companies to enjoy substantial cost-savings while protecting the environment and helping to fight against climate change. Electric trucks and buses have zero emissions and are a perfect use case for wireless electric vehicle charging. High-power wireless EV charging is a specialty of InductEV (formerly Momentum Dynamics). Induct EV was founded in 2009 and is located in Pennsylvania.
InductEV, the wireless EV charging leader
InductEV, the wireless EV charging leader, specializes in wireless EV charging for large trucks, buses, and other electric commercial vehicles. The company also provides wireless EV charging for smaller vehicles, for example, an all-electric fleet of Volvo XC40 Recharge taxis. According to Volvo, “For the fully electric XC40 Recharge cars, the wireless charging power will be more than 40 kW, making the charging speeds around four times faster than a wired 11 kW AC charger and almost as fast as a wired 50 kW DC fast charger.” The taxis drive over 100,000 kilometers (62,000 miles) per year. They are driven over 12 hours per day and charge while stopped, waiting for passengers. Highly efficient wireless EV charging by InductEV provides plenty of power for the vehicles while making charging much more convenient and safer for drivers.
One of InductEV’s impressive capabilities is significant cost-saving, high-power wireless EV charging for electric drayage trucks. Converting heavy-duty diesel drayage trucks to electric is a priority, because of the many well-documented, harmful effects of work vehicles burning diesel gasoline near ports. California, as the leading state in fleet electrification, announced that the state would end the sales of polluting internal combustion engine (ICE) freight, drayage, refuse, and delivery trucks by 2036. The new rule’s name is Advanced Clean Fleets, and it was approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Other states and the federal government are expected to support these efforts more going forward.
Another exciting capability of InductEV is wireless high-power EV charging for electric bus fleets. The company’s customers who have switched to battery electric bus fleets have reduced operating costs by 51% below diesel bus operating costs. An example is an InductEV wireless EV charging program for public transportation buses near Seattle Washington. InductEV reported the company’s newly installed four high-power 300 kw inductive chargers for Link Transit Company in June 2022 are much less expensive than their previous wired counterparts. InductEV has also installed high-power wireless EV chargers for mass-transit buses in Indianapolis, IN, Chattanooga, TN, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, and soon across other states.
(Image: InductEV. Link Transit Wirelessly Charged Transit Bus.)
VW gives details on the company’s new technology to decrease the weight of EV batteries
Batteries are the heaviest, most expensive, and most important part of today’s electric vehicles. The weight of the batteries is a problem that many carmakers have been working on. VW gave details on their innovative new 3D-printed battery pack frame, with a resin-based structure, promising to decrease the weight of the battery assembly by 60%. The company claimed that the resin-based structure has energy absorption and durability superior to steel.
(Image: Courtesy VW. Hardcore durability tests for new AI-optimized material structures that could replace conventional steel-based vehicle components.)
VW may use paper-based products to replace plastic parts
Volkswagen is trying out hot-pressed cellulose fiber-reinforced thermoplastics, which use paper instead of plastic. Other ways the company plans to reduce weight are other lightweight materials that may be used in pickup truck beds. These lightweight materials are being developed in the company’s US-based facilities.
VW’s Sheet molding compound (SMC) processes
VW plans to increase durability by using sheet molding compound (SMC) processes. This is accomplished by optimizing the fiber-matrix interface with a technique called sizing. An example of this was a VW Atlas tailgate that was 13 pounds lighter than metal, becoming 35% lighter.
A generative design was used to produce VW’s Type 20 Microbus Concept wheel
When VW’s ID.Buzz electric van was being developed in Germany, the company’s U.S. based division created the Type 20 Microbus Concept. An AI-based generative design approach was used in these projects, and is related to the design approach used for reducing weight.
It’s unclear how many of these innovative new approaches will appear in the company’s more affordable product lines within the EV sector. This research and development is expensive but beneficial to the overall electric vehicle market as other companies adapt processes to improve their own vehicles. VW’s representatives said their U.S.-based researchers would work with all Volkswagen Group brands, including Bentley, Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, and VW.
Written by Bill Pierce, Publisher EVinfo.net