If you have a Tesla electric sports car, then that messy cable you need to power it up with may be getting on your wick. A company called eCoupled wants to help you out, with wireless induction charging.
The eCoupled system uses induction coils to wirelessly transfer power between the charger (the blue circle on the floor) and the Tesla. All you have to do is park your Tesla near enough to the charger to enable wireless energy transfer.
The principle behind this system isn't new. It's the same technology that you get in an electric toothbrush. The difference here is that the Tesla needs 1,500W to charge up, not 0.5W. eCoupled claims that its charging technology is 90 per cent as efficient as wired charging, which is pretty remarkable really.
There's more. Not only is there a cool blue circle to park your car on, but there's an iPhone app that communicates with the charging station. From this app, you can see how much charge your car has, and the cost of charging it up. You can even start and stop the charging, should you wish to.
You'll need to have your Tesla modified to take advantage of this system. The material costs are apparently as low as $20 (£13). Fitting charges will be a different matter, no doubt. If you own a Tesla, though, we're pretty sure you'd be capable of coughing up some more cash to get such an awesome accessory.
When we'll start seeing these chargers cropping up in the real world hasn't been confirmed, but induction charging is definitely the future.
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Comments 4
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Anonymous 7 January, 2011 04:33
And if Nikola Tesla had his way we wouldn't need the stinking batteries either.
anonymous 7 January, 2011 09:28
All we need to do now is install millions of these along the motorway instead of cats eyes and we'd have infinite range!
anonymous 7 January, 2011 11:28
anonymous Yes.Finally someone who actually knows more about the scientist than for the cars.
Batteries suck,wires suck,there are so much more effective way of transmitting electricity like longtitudunal(could have spelled it worong) waves and ionosphere.Even the aether is a possibility,but stupid greedy J.P.Morgan didn't allow Tesla to continue.We Would be having 100% green and wieless energy,but NO! the damn money is always a primary factor.
DocBrown 7 January, 2011 17:09
In the future, there is no money. YAY!