Toyota Invests in Wireless Electric Car Charging
While electric and hybrid vehicles hold much in the way of appeal with regard to fuel economy and operational emissions, recharging their power cells has always been something of an ever-present inconvenience. However, researches have indicated that in the not too distant future, the charging of electric cars will likely be as easy as parking them in the home driveway or garage.
Toyota Motors have recently signed a contract with WiTricity, with whom they have also invested substantial capital in, to collaborate on a venture pertaining to the creation of a wireless electric vehicle battery charger which requires no physical point of contact. The company has already developed and released technology which enables consumers to recharge electronic items such as cell phones, TVs and game controllers wirelessly, therefore it is helped that with the help of automotive giant Toyota, the same principals can be applied on a much larger scale.
In essence, the success of the project would enable electric vehicles to be fully charged or topped up simply by parking them within range of a charger with a specially embedded device. The system works by utilising magnetic resonance, which has the potential to delivered over distances, through walls and even to multiple devices at the same time. Toyota is the make of the best selling electric car ever, the Prius and Prius V.
Toyota are certainly not the first vehicle manufacturer to express interest in such technology, with General Motors announcing in January 2010 that they were to partner with Powermat, in order to offer wireless recharging capability for consumer electronics within the Chevy Volt. However, Toyota are indeed the first to apply to principle theories of the concept to the car itself, rather than its contents.
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