Inductive charging should make it easier to refuel e-car batteries. However, the technology is unlikely to spread too quickly.
Inductive charging has long been standard for cell phones and electric toothbrushes. The electric car, on the other hand, usually still has to be connected to the cable to fill up with energy. And it should stay that way for a while.
From a purely technical point of view, contactless charging of car batteries does not pose any problems. An electromagnet in the floor and a counterpart in the vehicle as well as a little control technology - that's all you need. BMW is the first vehicle manufacturer to offer so-called “wireless charging” as a test option for its plug-in hybrids, primarily for leasing customers.
The difficulties with induction charging are more practical than technical. When parking, those wishing to charge must hit the induction plate as precisely as possible so that the energy can flow from the ground into the car. Without some form of technical aids - such as a camera or sensor system - it is difficult to guarantee this everywhere. This tends to limit the use of the technology to multi-storey car parks, parking lots and the domestic garage. On the edge of public roads, parking is often too wild for precise maneuvering to be possible. A charging station with a long cable is the more flexible solution.
In addition, the distance between the base plate and the vehicle counterpart should be as small as possible. Because not all cars have the same ground clearance, a system that can be moved vertically would be desirable, at least outside of the own garage, which in turn makes the corresponding systems expensive and maintenance-intensive.
On the other hand, there is, at least currently, a rather modest benefit. Because induction charging is significantly slower than filling up on the cable. The BMW system's output is just 3,2 kilowatts. An average wallbox or charging station is more than three times as fast. In principle, however, significantly higher charging capacities are also possible, as recently shown by researchers at the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak). Their technology is on par with 11 kW wallboxes, but is likely to do worse in terms of efficiency.
It will therefore take some time before fast inductive charging goes into series production. The first choice is likely to remain wired charging in view of the ongoing infrastructure development. There will probably only be a niche left for induction for the foreseeable future.