Bonus video of Swiss-German in the wild included. If you think German sounds harsh, you’ll love the Zuerich dialect. At least it’s all done in sing-song fashion, as is called for.
A real-world trial by scientists in Switzerland has demonstrated that wireless EV charging can achieve up to 90 percent efficiency compared with conventional cable-based systems, while offering far greater convenience.
Supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and the cantons of Zurich and Aargau, the project, called INLADE, was carried out by researchers from Empa in collaboration with the electric utility Eniwa AG.
Through this first-of-its-kind initiative, the team tested wireless inductive charging under real-life conditions in Switzerland. They are certain that what has long been routine for phones and electric toothbrushes could soon become a reality for EVs.
“The aim was to test the existing technology in everyday use, clarify technical and regulatory issues and demonstrate its potential for the energy transition,” Mathias Huber, from Empa’s Chemical Energy Carriers and Vehicle Systems lab, said.
Why not just drive home on gas, you said it yourself it’s a rare case you go downtown. It’s not acceptable to leave a vehicle parked in front of a gas pump, this is fundamentally no different. You’re inconveniencing people because you don’t want to drive on gas once in a while.
There are reasonable limits. Let’s say his car takes 30 minutes. Is 31 minutes total connection time acceptable? I think everyone would say yes. How about 35 minutes? 45? An hour?
Where people draw the line is going to vary. I agree with the premise that you shouldn’t have to wait by your car to charge, whether it’s 30 minutes or 2 hours. That is wasted time, and drastically reduces the attraction of having an EV. For myself, having to wait an extra 15 minutes isn’t too bad, and extra half hour or more is probably too much. I think context also really matters. If I’m parking at a station in a garage where most of the users are there for work, I expect to be there for at least 2 hours, possibly 4 (and would pick a charger I could use most of the time). At a mall, where people are in and out, if I was going to be there much more than 30 minutes I would probably plan to be back at my car to move it when it was charged. Especially since most of the chargers I’ve seen bill based on connection time and not electricity used.
That is what I do - but there are a number of reasons it isn’t a good answer. Electric is a lot cheaper, and much better for the environment (My city is powered 100% via wind). However if I have to sit around waiting for my car to charge so I can move it on demand instead of doing those things I’m there to do the whole isn’t acceptable.