Primary links

Inductive Charging

Submitted by Richard on 30 November 2011 - 9:12am | updated 27 Nov 2013 | Blog entry

Here's on for those interested in electric vehicles.

Definitely falls into the realm of Ecotopian GreenTech so not a "Transition" community innitiative but certainly a way to de-petroleum urban transport at the city or state level.

What I think is interesting about this is that the technology was developed here in NZ by Auckland University and demonstrates that there is a lot of work, innovation and development around sustainable transport going on out there in mainstream land

......OK once again can't seem to get the video to work but check it out at http://www.reuters.com/video/2011/08/04/charging-electric-cars-wirelessly?videoId=217893522

Efficiency Penalty for wireless charging.

Submitted by Nathan Surendran on 22 December 2011 - 11:59am.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/12/nissan-mercedes-test-wireless-ev-ch...
Only 80-90% the effectiveness of plugged in charging, if you can get your car within 1" of the optimum position...

Can we afford another 10-20% parasitic process inefficiency just for the sake of convenience where we're heading? I hope we'll value energy more than that...

Thanks for that. Actually

Submitted by Richard on 28 December 2011 - 4:29pm.

Thanks for that. Actually 80-90% efficiency of a plug in is better than I expected.

Given that the internal combustion engine wastes approx 60% of the energy potential of its fuel I’d suggest any technology that can improve efficiency in the transport sector whilst at the same time consuming a cleaner source of energy is worth investigating.

As for where we are going....Not sure really. Transport systems powered through inductive charging might be a greentech fantasy. But I think its worth keeping an eye on whats happening in the techno world. After all it was only two maybe three financial crisis ago in the 80’s that I’d be writing you a letter or sending you a fax rather than communicating through the internet.