How Wireless EV Charging Could Reshape Our Entire Energy System

[@mikeklein4949]

If this is happening in Canada. one of the tricky bits is thermal expansion and contraction as the temperatures range from +40 C to -40C throughout the year, while road surfaces might change to as high as 50 C or higher. Roads are cracked all the time, this has to be an issue.

[@SocialDownclimber]

Pantographs! For buses, pantographs are way better! Also, the material costs for dynamic wireless charging seem insanely high. Also, for distribution centres overhead cables plugged directly into the trucks seems better from a cost perspective and nearly equivalent for time efficiency.

[@nickwinn7812]

Pantographs could also work on Trucks.

[@Dqtube]

It is called a partial/hybrid/dual-mode trolleybus and has been common in various European cities(not only) for many years. Similar technology is available for trams. Where wires are located only part of the line, but are not present, for example, in historic city centers for aesthetic reasons.

[@Nikoo033]

Compared to wired charging: Lower efficiency therefore more drain on green electricity generation, higher installation and maintenance costs, higher embedded emissions and heavy disruption for installation and maintenance, higher safety issues, and finally one of the most important point not mentioned here: higher copper requirements. Yes, there is more copper used in a “wireless” base+ cable to the mains, than just a cable. Wireless charging is generally pointless for standard electronic devices (except maybe during a car or a train/airplane journey). It’s even more pointless for EVs, because of the higher drain on resources. Goes against any sustainable goal.

[@byGDur]

When you look around, you then you often see that we don't care about excessive use of materials. If it is convenient and / or necessary, then we build it. 🙂

[@pete3897]

At home? Sure. In carparks? Maybe. But underneath literally every road? Yea, nah - ya dreaming :)

[@freeheeler09]

Dynamic Induction charging systems would be installed under major arteries, not side roads. From other videos I’ve seen, you’d only have to install dynamic induction charging under 5% or so of a highway. Or, as Rosie said, induction charging could be installed under bus, truck, and apartment parking spaces. This technology could completely disrupt Exxon, etc.!

[@rogerphelps9939]

If you like wasting half your charging energy then go ahead with wireless.

[@vasiliigulevich9202]

Railroads do wired charging

[@TheDanEdwards]

Copper is already a source of contention, and even criminality in some places. So no, no copper coils under every major thoroughfare. Maybe at service station parking lots, etc., something can be done.

[@nickwinn7812]

The coils could be in aluminium as the required increased size of the cores should not be an issue in this application. However, I do think this would be a nightmare to install and maintain in the highway, as well as being a potential health/safety hazard.

[@multiplysixbynine]

Electrifying the roads seems needlessly expensive and hazardous. At best it would seem to be of value for transportation of goods along fixed corridors much like trains. It might be interesting to estimate the deployment cost of such systems and to compare the cost of the efficiency losses of each technology. 90% efficient wireless power transfer isn’t nearly good enough when it implies many megawatt-hours of wasted energy across the network.

[@SMD1999]

Hmmmm… Smells like vaporware in here 👃👀👀

[@AlexPacker]

The moment you have to mess about with alignment and getting within 10cm of the optimal position, you may as well just plug it in. The dynamic charging for trucks is interesting, but same problem. Installing each truck with a larger battery is more sensible than thousands of kilometres of inductive highway

[@rtfazeberdee3519]

Opportunity charging is the most practical to start with until the tech comes down in price

[@HughCStevenson1]

It's not really like a microwave - the frequency is usually around 10 - 200 kHz not 2.45 GHz - 10000x ratio! The effect on the body is quite different as it is on Pacemakers etc. Your hand will not be cooked by an induction cooktop but definitely will if you put it in a microwave oven!

[@nickwinn7812]

OK, but will your wristwatch or wedding ring heat up and burn you? What if you have metal parts inside your body?

[@jimurrata6785]

​@@nickwinn7812Does your phone melt down when you set it on a Qi charging pad?

[@nickwinn7812]

If charging a Truck only takes a few minutes, then dynamic charging seems senseless, given the infrastructure issues and loss of efficiency. Drivers need breaks and can be charging during those breaks.

[@tsbrownie]

OR, put powerful magnets in the roadbed, and coils under the vehicle. The act of driving over the magnets will induce current in the vehicle's coils charging it. The car could run forever!!! ;)

[@eclecticcyclist]

That would need very close distance to work or very large and strong magnets and any metal debris will collect on the magnets and be a road hazzard, besides it would be enormously expensive for all the magnets required. Dynamic charging is a non starter except for overhead catenary charging.

[@shaneintheuk2026]

3:53 wow! So I can charge my EV by parking it on top of my induction hob?!?!? 😂😂😂

[@tibsyy895]

They can't even build enough EV chaging station and you want us to believe that they gonna resurface the roads with this? Haha :D

[@byGDur]

We can and do have enough chargers. They are insanely simple to create and install.

[@QALibrary]

The UK just passed 71,000 public chargers and around 50 chargers are added to the grid each day

[@roidroid]

6:30 "...mining battery materials" Which would pale in comparison to the amount of the extra COPPER (expensive!) being mined to create all of that inductive charging infrastructure. Inductive charging coils ARE NOT SMALL! It'd be easier to just create the batteries. edit: Honestly, they should be using aluminium coils. There's probably minimal issues with vibration (at least compared to copper in motors) & impacts, aluminium would probably be ok in this usage. You just need 3x as much volume, but whatever, it's still lighter-weight (tho probably not an issue in roads) and WAY cheaper & more available than Copper.

[@larrypriest5789]

Cool idea, may work in home garages and heated parking lots here, otherwise the frost heaves will mess with anything not buried below 3.5 ft. so an 8 cm deep coil will not last more then one winter. total waste of everything. but that is what we get here in the snow belt.

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Full battery daily is the best feature with automatic v2g.😊😊😊😊😊

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

The home robotic vacuum cleaner and robotic lawnmower could teach the selfparking v2g EV to selfplug-in. A dirt cheap, $60 bumper height wall outlet would be adequate for trickle currents from millions and millions of vehicles. For 23hrs every day. Most vehicles drive building to building. Trickle currents all day long and all night long. Battery management technologies can speak to the grid and identify the owners. And protect the battery. You have used a 40kWh battery as a conservative example. You have ignored the tradies vehicles And bus fleets parked in broken shifts. You have hilighted how a full day capacity is available at night. A much bigger amount could be available daily. This is a good video. 👍 😮😊😊 Do one on the 20million roofs in Australia. 6.6kw PV for 5hrs daily. 660gWh daily. Battery ' intervention ' is critical. Grid capacity is only 25gW not 132gW for 5hrs. 👍 👍 👍

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Actually the best feature is the combination of 20million vehicles and 20million rooftops. PV rooftops and v2g EVs 23hrs every day and all night long. And no nuclear, it's problem is a world wide problem. Nuclear is a grid problem.

[@byGDur]

Theoretically, the pads can be moved a bit via stepper motors for alignment. Would make the parking easier.

[@kajika135bis]

Even going through all the sources here there isn't a single scientific paper/process (I don't mind 3rd party testing on their own) testing all the claims about efficiency. I found it weird that the numbers are 3x better (1/3 of measured losses) compared to actual, real world, tested wireless charge on phones (were the distance is 10x smaller). PS : I find the scientific papers using company's blog post number quiet worrying. I could understand using official reports but blog from the Chief Marketing Officer? No thanks

[@VitalStatistics-t7t]

I'd love it in my garage!

[@replica1052]

all electric cars have induction regen from their motors - all we need is induction coils (you get a car that parks itself and welcomes you every morning preconditioned and ready to go )

[@QALibrary]

I can not remember if Tesla allows a wireless charging kits to be installed on their vehicles and people they have been found out having them installed have been blocked from using their charging network and even having the battery and drivetrain warranty being denied

[@mikapeltokorpi7671]

Wireless is 30% less efficient. So, how many nuclear plants are needed for this waste heat generation?

[@eclecticcyclist]

In Europe lorry drivers have to take a 45 minute break after working 4 1/2 hrs, with adequate charging infrastructure thi would be enough to top up enough for the rest of the day so there's no need for wirless charging for them. I do see a use for busses and taxis and possibly light urban rail that stop at a designated spot regularly, wirless charging could enable the use of a smaller battery leading to a more efficient vehicle. For dynamic charging of long distance heavy goods vehicles the best charging method is sections of overhead catenary like the Tesla Giga Train which runs of batteries whilst on the Tesla branch line but switches seamlessly to overhead catenary for traction and chrging whilst on the main line.

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Rooftops PV is a recyclable 330kg system after 20years. Nuclear is 1 tonne of uranium metal waste, after 20 years, to be stored for 100 years. And 7,000 tonnes of uranium ore being processed. All based on the same amount of electricity kWh. Or 1.5 tonnes vs 330kg after 30years. 11,000 tonnes of uranium ore processed. Both with EVs. 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@kevinc-727]

San Francisco has electric buses with pantographs with no batteries. Pantographs could have wires over the truck lane on long highways to power trucks while they drive, it works for trains

[@michaelzerk]

A car park at more than 50% capacity with all cars charging (whether wired or wireless) would require its own substation. I can’t imagine wiring roads - the state of Victoria can barely repair potholes. And for mass freight - rail is under-utilised in Australia. A better rail network would be much simpler.

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Fire fighters hesitation at accident ??😮

[@mikeklein4949]

I expect a combination for charging, wireless makes lot of sense everywhere vehicles normally park. Wireful charging also makes a lot of sense everywhere vehicles normally park. The issue is the cable, doing without cable may be a safety feature as well as a convenience. Also, it's difficult to steal wireless charging pad, I suspect, not so much with a cable.

[@fifthager]

Is there an intermediate technology missing here? Opportunity charging for bus, van and truck it very appealing, but surely a robotised wired connector is a cheaper and more practical solution? There's already a lot of communication between charger and vehicle, but it starts after the electrical connection is made. Start it when the vehicle stops close to the charge point and the rest can be handled without human intervention. I think drivers would be happier if this happens where they can see it operating rather than underneath the vehicle. It could be part of robotised loading and unloading, a rather neglected area. An evolutionary approach is sometimes cumbersome but more successful.

[@redshift3]

Until we have super abundant renewable energy, we can't afford the inefficiency of wireless charging except for some niche opportunity charging

[@Dqtube]

The cost of the necessary materials and maintenance prevents widespread deployment. Look at an example of how much a basic 30-50kW DC charger costs and the performance components you would need for each pad. You mentioned Hyundai's interest in this technology, but the car that would implement it as the first GV60 has been on the market for a few years but doesn't offer it.

[@pingnick]

Surprising to me that efficiency could be pretty much identical to regular plug in method⚡️🔋 🤯

[@gusdenver]

It will always be less efficient. There is a lot more wire and that wire has resistance. Reducing the air gap is the best way to improve efficiency. That has many problems especially for dynamic charging.

[@jjamespacbell]

Unless the car is self-driving then the driver needs to take breaks either by law in the case of professional drivers, or because mother nature calls.

[@HughCStevenson1]

Wireless V2G would require quite a bit of power electronics in the vehicle which would be a non-trivial cost. Cool though!

[@QALibrary]

This sounds and looks good but I think the laws of physics will be a issue and that would be before the cost of building new roads or upgrading current roads but this does have its place as bus stops, stands and bus stations. Like wise with lorries in the loading and unloading dock/yard and maybe on hills

[@davidunwin7868]

Only 2 comments so far! Better comment before I finish the video. What about people with pacemakers. My induction cooker says don't use it if you've got a pacemaker!

[@EngineeringwithRosie]

Wow I didn't know that about pace makers and induction cook tops. I don't know the answer but I would be surprised if it were possible to get it certified without it being safe for people with pace makers. At least I hope so!

[@HughCStevenson1]

@@EngineeringwithRosie They do say that but it may be an abundance of caution, I suspect. The EMC rules for pacemakers are pretty strict I think so they would be tested for immunity from external fields (like all products but more so).

[@mikeklein4949]

And pads seem a natural fit to solar panels.

[@nickwinn7812]

Really? I don't see the connection (pun intended).

[@SwissPGO]

Hmmm why not use trains? Like switzerland. Put the truck on the train, and charge it enough so it can do the last miles and then get back to another train

[@frasercrone3838]

Everything to do with transport revolves around cost because everything we buy has to be moved at some point and that movement costs money. All the infrastructure will cost an enormous amount of money, and the transport companies will have to pay for using it. That cost is what will make or break this idea as it will be added to the cost of what is being transported and eventually added to the cost of the finished product that is sold to the consumer. if this cost is higher than what we pay now then the cost of goods is going to rise and that will squeeze already tight budgets and may add to the potential for an inflation spike for the economy. We also need to produce that amount of electricity and have it on tap where the transport routes are and for a place like Australia that will be very remote areas not close to urban power structures. If all this infrastructure is put in with private investment money, they will want to make a good return on that investment so again this will impact the cost of transport and the cost of the final product. I understand that we need to ditch fossil fuels as soon as possible but if you trash your economy trying to do that the green transition fails. Of course, the fossil fuel industry will run interference to all of this just like they have for over 40 years and that will have consequences.

[@HughCStevenson1]

"Spark!" Ha ha!

[@sonictrout]

Great channel! Tesla seemed to be able to charge at a distance from a tower. Is anyone working on that?

[@EngineeringwithRosie]

Not that I know of but that doesn't mean no one is! There's space based solar, which is sort of close.

[@CorporateZombi]

My mother in law has a pacemaker and she's not supposed to have a wireless charger near her bed! How is she going to use this form of public transport or cross the street? Or will she have to wear a Faraday cage and look like ironman? 😂

[@HughCStevenson1]

I think the power that Tesla transferred was very minimal - enough to light a fluoro tube but nowhere near the power required here. These are typically 20 - 50 kHz and basically using the magnetic field - like a transformer but with a huge gap which makes what is called the "leakage inductance" very big. This is usually tuned with a capacitor that resonates with it at the operating frequency. All that complexity and extra components is what reduces the efficiency from 90+ to maybe 75%... Trying to use the electric field doesn't get enough power density.

[@HughCStevenson1]

@@CorporateZombi I think that the engineers (of which I am one...) will work out these issues before there is any wide adoption of the technology. Fortunately pacemakers are most interested in frequencies below about 20 Hz (20 cycles per second) and the chargers use frequencies more than 1000x that so it is easy to filter them out. :) So I think your MIL will not need a "tinfoil hat".

[@jasenanderson8534]

I can hear the "wifi gives you cancer" mob getting triggered already. 😂. Personally I love the idea, so long as it's low maintenance and efficient and doesn't, error, cost you the earth.

[@rogerphelps9939]

I is not efficient. There has o be very precise positioning otherwise most of the power will be wasted.

[@micklipscombe8614]

The powers that be need to bring down the price of EVs so people can afford to buy them before they spend more money on a charging system that people won’t use because they can’t afford to buy the EV in the first place

[@nickwinn7812]

The market is already seeing the price of EVs dropping very fast, at least here in Europe. So much so that governments are now withdrawing their subsidies and tax breaks on EVs.

[@blackjack8957]

SONY had a digital camera YX-300V about 12 years ago, which can be charged wirelessly. Still now the SONY smartphone has the capability. But not so many people are interested because #1 very low efficiency #2 dangerous when something metal involved in between. I don't think the moving vehicle is a good idea to implement that feature, as well as parking cars which no one keeps an eye on. You should leave the EVs, your physics brain tells you 'it's impossible to make it efficient otherwise we have a free energy."

[@lucidmoses]

I don't think the road one is a good idea. By the time you get all the roads changed the tech to wirelessly charge will have changed and you need to start all over again.

[@SpeedLockedNZ]

slot cars

[@tali3san337]

Wireless charging EVs is one of the DUMBEST ideas out there. The inefficiencies make it laughable. Maybe they can add it to the Solar Roads.

[@AnotherPointOfView944]

Dont be silly.

[@MA-kt8ly]

What a waste

[@NotThatGoat]

It should be standard for all EV.

[@MrSvenovitch]

You are so full of it it's unbelievable. How do you sleep at night?