Tesla Inductive Charging Pad (wireless) is in development!

[anionic1]

Gee, that all sounds very expensive. But you know what? People are paying that and will continue to do so. That's what infrastructure is all about.

What high tech infrastructure are you seeing people pay for in the streets? People aren't paying for it. The highest tech infrastructure I am seeing are traffic camera systems. Not private vehicle induction charging equipment. Remember the recent huge failure where they tried to implement speeding cameras and then they all got removed and wasted millions in public money. The next major innovation in streets is going to be their demo when the majority of people are flying around instead of driving in 100 years.

 

[sstevens805]

We're getting closer to my favorite toy as a kid. If they can get the loops built maybe I'll spring for the beast

 

[Crissa]

Huh? Since when are they doing VTG?

ICE are a net negative because their fueling network - from refineries to gas stations - use electricity, and give none back.

EVs mostly use power off-peak, and they can potentially give power back to the grid.

-Crissa

 

[Eclipse]

I think it does help the small percentage of people that live in apartments because it will be much more appetizing to the people that have the apartments for the simple fact that all they would have to run is one cable underground to the where cars are parking. Then from there they plug in to the separate induction units. Not to mention it could be turned on and off at will or program to the electric bill going to your apartment etc. I think it would be much more palatable and easy for apartment complex to adopt this kind of charging for the future mainly because the majority of the population will move over to electric vehicles we know this. This is an easy way for them to put in 10 pads then 20 then 50 then 100.

 

[GuyV]

ICE are a net negative because their fueling network - from refineries to gas stations - use electricity, and give none back.

EVs mostly use power off-peak, and they can potentially give power back to the grid.

-Crissa

LOL, OK, I thought you were suggesting that ICE vehicles were somehow a negative demand on the grid, that they were contributing power to it.

 

[GuyV]

What high tech infrastructure are you seeing people pay for in the streets? People aren't paying for it. The highest tech infrastructure I am seeing are traffic camera systems. Not private vehicle induction charging equipment. Remember the recent huge failure where they tried to implement speeding cameras and then they all got removed and wasted millions in public money. The next major innovation in streets is going to be their demo when the majority of people are flying around instead of driving in 100 years.

Hahaha. They've been laying fiber under the streets for decades now. Sadly, the speed cameras are still alive and edging their way back even where we managed to get them removed, all in the name of safety of course, nothing to do with revenue. Billions are being spent to provide charging for EVs already, much more to come.

 

[CyberGus]

I'm confused, isn't the problem that you need to run a 240V line to where the car is going to be charged? It's the electrical work on the building that is the hurdle for renters and driveways. An inductive pad is still going to need to connect to a 240V line whether it's hard-wired or whether through like a NEMA 14-50 plug...

1. no external cables to break or vandalize
2. no special connector
3. EV-only parking spaces
4. billing via car handshake

Infrastructure funding is an issue, but this must happen if we plan to transition to a renewable future. The EV world has distributed charging, not fixed gas stations.

 

[Fleetwood75]

I dunno, I just don't see apartment buildings going through all of this trouble. High end condo buildings maybe, but apartments are built as cheap as possible and running all of this extra power under the concrete sounds expensive. What I'm showing below can be easily retrofitted to a wall, or the legs of a carport canopy. Bring your own Level 2 charger. You can probably install a dozen of these for the cost of one induction mat, and they can be rolled out with today's tech.

 

[cbrtrckrsrvd112219]

Franz confirms in the Jay Leno Cybertruck video that Tesla is working on inductive charging pad.

Tesla teased a wireless charging pad in this image earlier this year.

so is inductive charging HW already part of CT and just needs SW enablement as an Option? ?
That would be a killer feature for Founders edition!

 

[PilotPete]

I dunno, I just don't see apartment buildings going through all of this trouble. High end condo buildings maybe, but apartments are built as cheap as possible and running all of this extra power under the concrete sounds expensive. What I'm showing below can be easily retrofitted to a wall, or the legs of a carport canopy. Bring your own Level 2 charger. You can probably install a dozen of these for the cost of one induction mat, and they can be rolled out with today's tech.

Dude! Where do you drive??? There are a couple apartment buildings over by John Wayne Airport that have WINE CELLAR STORAGE for the residents and free valet for their guests! Rentals, NOT condos! Then there are a bunch off of Ave of the Arts that are in the same category. I haven't even started with what is down off the bay!

 

[ReddykwRun]

Look up Evatran. Rebecca Tinucci and her dad developed the company YEARS ago to provide wireless chargers, they had some financial bumps and she slipped over to Tesla and suprise she is now in charge of the Supercharging network. One smart lady.

Here is an old video of her selling the plugless charging system.

 

[ReddykwRun]

Oh of course, all kinds of interesting market outcomes!


For the incredulous, this isn't pie-in-sky - Tesla would be far from the only company developing this.

Currently, several pilot projects already exist around the world.

Here's one Ford, Electreon, Michigan Department of Transportation, and Next Era have in process.






In part, yes.

The company Tesla purchased to acquire this IP already had retrofitted Tesla's with these systems, and have/had several pilot charge stations running them.

Not to overstate, obviously these are early stage tech and only pilots, but there's more going on out there than meets the eye.



IN TERMS OF THINKING AROUND CORNERS:

Who is going to charge robotaxi's (whether Tesla's or others?)

A queue of robotaxi's sitting at an airport for hours on end can be charging, and not need to return to a homebase for connective charging intervention.

Similarly, buses in bus lanes, or at a stop

So, this kind of system makes sense above all in urban transport where speeds aren't too high.



And needs to be pointed out

The payoff here isn't merely an alternative to plugging in.

With these types of systems, an eg robotaxi needs only a much smaller, lighter, cheaper battery

Same for busses, etc.


Point being, the ecosystem of inductive being installed in roads, etc., isn't merely an added feature at added cost. It also replaces many current constraints and costs.

Wireless came on scene years ago and died on the vine, don't know why. It's a great idea. See Plugless Power / Evatran Rebecca Tinucci now at Tesla.

 

[Petertsai]

Inductive charging requires close coupling of the transmit and receive coils. Just look at your smartphone induction charging as example. For it to work on a car, there would have to be a large coil (for high power transfer) and probably some lifting of the transmitting coil to bottom of car to make efficient power transfer. Hard to justify with how easy it is to just plug in connector.

 

[Frank Mendez]

I dunno, I just don't see apartment buildings going through all of this trouble. High end condo buildings maybe, but apartments are built as cheap as possible and running all of this extra power under the concrete sounds expensive. What I'm showing below can be easily retrofitted to a wall, or the legs of a carport canopy. Bring your own Level 2 charger. You can probably install a dozen of these for the cost of one induction mat, and they can be rolled out with today's tech.

I own a four plex and have contacted the power company to see if I could get an additional power drop to my parking spaces. I intend to buy a meter and electrify the parking car ports. I will charge an "Electric Vehicle" fee to provide the charging infrastructure and the power as I cannot charge for the electricity. I look at this a benefit that can increase my rental demand for little investment.

 

[TTz]

Dedicated charging time for a robo taxi is lost revenue. Anything that can reduce unproductive time (charging while in a taxi line up, in-road on-the-fly conductive, etc) will most likely be profitable, even if that innovative charging is more expensive than lot charging. Time is money. Even soccer moms would pay for in-road charging if they could eliminate/minimize the sitting-duck feeling in a charging lot.