Soon: Electric cars that get charged without electricity!

WASHINGTON - A Kiwi firm has developed a technology that can charge an electric car with the help of magnetic fields.

Though it’s not the first time someone has discovered wireless car charging, HaloIPT’s technology seems more advanced than any other, as the company claimed that it could work in all weather conditions, reports Discovery News.

IPT stands for ‘inductive power transfer’ and as CleanTechnica’s Chris Milton writes, the system works a little like the way an electric toothbrush gets charged. Just on a much, much larger scale.

Inside the car, electricity energizes an inductive coil attached to a bunch of capacitors that help keep the currents and voltages at the right levels.

Outside the car, a pad containing separate coils or “pick-up” coils get coupled magnetically to the primary coil. The coils all get tuned to the right operating frequency and electricity is transferred to them using a switch-mode controller.

The technology is supposed to work even when there are about 16 inches between the charger and the receiver and drivers won’t need to park directly over the pad with the coils for it to still work. The controller has sensors that detect what’s going on with the battery, potentially maximizing battery life.

The only slight issue is that the car needs to be in proximity to the pad containing the pick-up coils. However, as a positive, the technology is supposed to be durable, reducing e-waste.

At the moment, the company has a demo version of its tech but plans to get a commercial-scale version ready in two years. (ANI)