Volvo tries out wireless car charging in Sweden

GOTHENBURG: While scientists argue over whether wireless car charging in urban areas is the most sustainable way forward, Volvo is starting field tests of the technology in the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

Using Volvo VC40 Recharge EVs operated by the Cabonline taxi company, the Swedish maker plans to evaluate the system over the next three years.

The taxis will be operated for 12 hours a day, driving around 100,000km a year.

The cars get their power when they park over a charging pad embedded in the road. The station below sends electricity through the pad, which is stored in the EV and used for propulsion.

To easily align the car with the charging pad, the cars use a 360-degree camera system. Charging speed will be more than 40 kW, which is almost four times faster than a wired 11 kW AC charger and almost as fast as a wired 50 kW DC fast charger.

Wireless inductive charging has been tried out before using city buses, notably in the German capital Berlin. A pilot project there was later abandoned after operator BVG said the buses from Polish maker Solaris proved unreliable, with leaves and other road dirt on the pads interrupting the flow of current.

The wireless charging test is one of many projects under the umbrella of Gothenburg's Green City Zone, under which designated areas within the city are used as live test beds for the development of sustainable technologies.

"Gothenburg Green City Zone lets us try exciting new technologies in a real environment and evaluate them over time for a potential future broader introduction," said Volvo's Head of Research and Development Mats Moberat.

"Testing new charging technologies together with selected partners is a good way to evaluate alternative charging options for our future cars."