Should electric cars charge through their nose?

The writing is on the wall for corded electric vehicle charging: within the foreseeable future it will be phased out in favor of wireless technology.

With both major carmakers and specialist third parties working on solutions, wireless charging, at least in a domestic setting, should be widespread before 2020, but the form it takes is still being debated.

Wireless, or inductive, charging stations that owners of the Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt can buy today use a floor-mounted pad that transmits charge to a corresponding unit on the underside of the car.

BMW and Daimler, who recently announced a cooperation to develop the technology, appear to have adopted a similar architecture, making it the most popular method of wireless charging so far. Volkswagen are set to offer similar systems by 2017.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology (IISB), however, are suggesting that the contactless systems should be sited elsewhere on the car.

The IISB says that nose-mounted coils are significantly smaller as well as being less susceptible to interference. What they lack in subtlety, furthermore, they make up for in cost and efficiency.

Interference for floor-mounted systems could come in the form of cats, which would undoubtedly enjoy sleeping on the warm pads beneath the car, and rubbish blown into the induction zone. That rubbish, consisting of chewing-gum wrapping or cigarette packaging, can get so hot that it combusts.
Vertical ‘docking’ stations

The IISB’s solution is a waist-high charging column that charges an electric car through a coil inside the front bumper.

As the two coils are all but touching, the distance between them can be as much as eight times smaller than floor-mounted systems, measuring just 10cm in diameter. The system is therefore more cost-effective and less susceptible to disruption in the flow of power.

The plastic column would also be designed to bend, and even flip down if the car had to drive over it. This causes no damages to the car, says IISB, which has been researching power electronics for zero-emissions cars for more than decade.

“We’ve been consistently upping the system’s performance over the past year, and are now in possession of a prototype that is able to transmit three kilowatts at an overall efficiency of 95 percent. Today’s electric car models can be recharged overnight,” says Dr. Bernd Eckardt, head of vehicle power electronics at Fraunhofer.

“Nowadays, charge spots are offered as part of the sales package when customers buy an electric vehicle. This technology will only become a mass product if the price is right,” Eckardt explains.