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Autonomous Vehicles, New Mobility & the Built Environment Electric Vehicles Robots Smart Cities Smart Grid

Wireless Charging of the Autonomous Vehicle & More #sdc2022

[Added 12/16/22 – Ryan Marinelli of InductEV provides an example of inductive charging in the ice and snow, which led to an informative online discussion. Referenced in that discussion is a January 2017 ViodiTV interview with Qualcomm about charging technology]

Automated charging without the need for human intervention is a must-have for the eventual implementation of low-cost, shared, autonomous, electric mobility. It was appropriate, then, that InductEV (formerly Momentum Dynamics) had an exhibit at the 5th Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCars Summit.

In the above interview, InductEV’s Chief Commercial Officer, Bob Kacergis, likens their wireless charging solution to common consumer goods, like a toothbrush or cellphone, but delivering up to 450kW. Their solution is more than wirelessly transferring electricity, as Kacergis likens their system to automatic tolling whereby the charging takes place automatically once a vehicle stops at one of its plates, authenticates, and, as appropriate, makes a payment.

Kacergis suggests the benefits of this approach include:

  • One doesn’t have to get out of the vehicle to deal with a charger.
  • It doesn’t have the reliability issues associated with mechanical parts and screens that traditional chargers have (see this Verge article to get an idea of the dissatisfaction with the current charging solution).
  • It is modular, allowing the charger to meet the need of a given application.
  • In-street installation of charging plates enables in-route charging.

Opportunity Charging Enabling New Opportunities #

Regarding this last bullet, InductEV is finding its initial commercial success with taxi and bus systems for both planned and opportunity charging. Charging along a given route allows for either smaller battery packs, longer range, and/or all-day routes (not having to spend hours in a charging depot).

This results in improved operational efficiencies. Wenatchee, Washington’s public transit agency found the operating costs of their electric fleet, combined with in-route charging, to be about 51% of the cost of a diesel bus. Of course, they have the advantage of low-cost, hydropower from the Columbia River.

In 2019, Indianapolis’ IndyGo turned to InductEV to effectively increase the range of the buses along its electrified bus rapid transit line. The issue was that, particularly in cold weather, the BYD-supplied buses were not consistently meeting their range specification. The installation of three wireless charging pads along the route effectively extended the range of the buses without having to increase battery packs.

A more recent application that takes advantage of InductEV’s ability to authenticate and distinguish between customers is the Solana Transit Agency-led regional network in Northern California. Spanning at least 40 miles and over multiple transit agencies, seven chargers will power electric buses serving both local routes and the longer routes that connect the Central Valley to the Bay Area.

The Future Is Autonomous #

Kacergis indicates that three major bus manufacturers, BYD, Gillig, and GreenPower Motor Company have options to factory-install InductEV’s charging plates on their respective buses and electric vehicles. And as nod to the future, Kacergis indicates that their first deployment with an autonomous vehicle was in 2015 with Alphabet/Google (now Waymo). The solution that InductEV is delivering is definitely a building block necessary to turn the science fiction outlined in this 2014 Viodi article into commercial reality.

Author Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

By Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

Ken Pyle is Marketing Director for the Broadband Forum. The mission of this 25+-year-old non-profit “is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies and standards in the home, intelligent small business, and multi-user infrastructure of the broadband network.”

He is also co-founder of Viodi, LLC and Managing Editor of the Viodi View, a publication focused on the rural broadband ecosystem, autonomous vehicles, and electric aviation. He has edited and produced numerous multimedia projects for NTCA, US Telecom and Viodi. Pyle is the producer of Viodi’s Local Content Workshop, the Video Production Crash Course at NAB, as well as ViodiTV. He has been intimately involved in Viodi’s consulting projects and has created processes for clients to use for their PPV and VOD operations, as well authored reports on the independent telco market.

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