Someday soon, plug-in cars may no longer need a plug. Electric car drivers would simply pull into a specialised parking space when it’s time to power up, wait for a light on their dashboard to switch on, and then hop out of the car and go about their day.
Most wireless chargers are on par with a Level 2 charger and not the DC fast chargers available at many public stations. Electric cars also need to be designed with wireless charging in mind. While retrofitting EVs is doable, in practice it can void the car’s battery warranty, says Amaiya Khardenavis, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie.
“You can deploy the chargers at specific locations on the routes throughout the day,” says Loren McDonald, founder and CEO of EVAdoption, an electric vehicle analyst firm. Tesla’s vote of confidence is spurring interest among other automakers, too. “That’s the major wake-up call,” McCool says. “Until that happened, wireless charging was still considered a fringe technology. Now it’s a trending technology.”