20kW Wireless Quick Charging for RAV4 EV by DOE/Oak Ridge

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DevinL

Well-known member
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Mar 4, 2014
Messages
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Location
Prince George, BC
http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/03/20kw-wireless-ev-charging/

You don't often see the RAV4 EV popping up in news stories, so that's exciting by itself!

No interesting details specific to the RAV4 here, but it's interesting to see someone other than Tony modifying the car's charging system for >10kW capability. I imagine they use similar trickery to JdeMO to actually get it to work.

Also, weirdly, they took all the blue Es off the badges.
 
DevinL said:
http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/03/20kw-wireless-ev-charging/

You don't often see the RAV4 EV popping up in news stories, so that's exciting by itself!

No interesting details specific to the RAV4 here, but it's interesting to see someone other than Tony modifying the car's charging system for >10kW capability. I imagine they use similar trickery to JdeMO to actually get it to work.

Also, weirdly, they took all the blue Es off the badges.

It's a bit easier to work with when I've had the methods we use posted publically for almost two years.
 
Wireless does nothing for me. Too much $$ and more power than needed at home. In the wild there is never going to be any infrastructure.
Looks like a government waste for proof of concept never to be used. :(
 
smkettner said:
Wireless does nothing for me. Too much $$ and more power than needed at home. In the wild there is never going to be any infrastructure.
Looks like a government waste for proof of concept never to be used. :(
In the immediate future, you're correct. But 10-15 years down the road I could see wireless charging being more common for consumer applications.

They are demonstrating this on a RAV4 EV because it's easier to do it with a small vehicle. I think the real promise is for fleet vehicles, particularly buses that make regular stops at specific places. You could drastically cut the battery size required by strategically locating wireless charging pads at stops along a given route and enjoy much greater operational flexibility than seen with trolleybuses while allowing more cost-effective electrification than long-range BEV buses.

I think it's a great use of government research funding since the electrification of more bus systems would be an environmental boon and simplify operations, thus reducing costs for transit authorities which are primarily funded through tax dollars in the United States.
 
I think for buses, an overhead conductive catenary-like aparatus would be equally convenient, probably more efficient, and have comparable install cost both on the bus and at charging locations.

http://insideevs.com/there-will-be-an-open-interface-for-electric-bus-fast-charging-in-europe/

Fast-charging-robot.jpg
 
There's actually a trolley system here in CA that already uses inductive charging to charge up on board battery. The Red Car Trolley at Disneyland California Adventure is an electric trolley with batteries that are charged by an inductive coils at the Sunset Blvd stop.
Red_Car_Trolley


The overhead wires are only used for telemetry info.

There's not a whole lot of info on how the system works, but it was designed and built by the Brookville Equipment Corp.
http://www.brookvillecorp.com/Advan...logies-04-13-2012.asp?news=news-streetcar.asp
 
miimura said:
I think for buses, an overhead conductive catenary-like aparatus would be equally convenient, probably more efficient, and have comparable install cost both on the bus and at charging locations.

http://insideevs.com/there-will-be-an-open-interface-for-electric-bus-fast-charging-in-europe/

I think this type of setup would be pretty unlikely to be installed on city streets (at least where trolleybuses wouldn't already be suitable) due to a variety of issues including height restrictions, speed, and reliability (moving parts). I could only see a system like this being used at depots or layover stops where the dwell time is significant, which moves you back to requiring a mid- or long-range BEV, rather than short-range with spontaneous charging at vehicle stops.

Inductive charging would offer invisible infrastructure that would start charging the transit vehicle the moment it reaches the pad instead of having to wait for connection then disconnection. In an ideal world this probably takes 10-15 seconds to connect and at least 5 to disconnect. In Vancouver, the 99B with all-door boarding has an average dwell time of 4.8 seconds per passenger (PDF source). The conductive connector itself is guided (kind of like Tesla's robo-snake charging cable, but hopefully faster) as you couldn't use the type of catenary you find on rail vehicles which are grounded through the steel wheels. That's why trolleybuses with rubber tires require two wires.

A conductive connection will always be more energy efficient, but when inductive charging still offers greater energy efficiency than traditional liquid fuels and the potential to avoid significant costs associated with big batteries in long-range vehicles you become much more concerned with the cost of time. Maintaining short dwell times at stops and high vehicle daily in-service time is a much bigger concern than the amount of energy that could be lost by inductive charging compared with conductive charging.


swogee said:
There's not a whole lot of info on how the system works, but it was designed and built by the Brookville Equipment Corp.
http://www.brookvillecorp.com/Advan...logies-04-13-2012.asp?news=news-streetcar.asp

Interesting! The layout of the truck reminds me a lot of the Bombardier ART system that we use for our SkyTrain line here in Vancouver. The system is based around linear induction motors.

 
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