Plugless Power is a family of
Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) products manufactured by Plugless Power, Inc. that enable wireless
(inductive) charging for
electric vehicles (WCEV). The Plugless Power EVSE wirelessly delivers electrical power to the on-board EV battery charger using
electromagnetic induction without a physical connection (
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
) to the vehicle. An EV equipped with a Plugless Vehicle Adapter can be charged by parking it over an inductive Plugless Parking Pad. The active step of plugging a cord into the vehicle is eliminated.
History and development
In 2009, Evatran began development of Plugless Power, an inductive charging system for charging Electric Vehicles without plugging in. Field trials were begun in March 2010. The first system was sold to Google in 2011 for employee use at the Mountain View campus. Evatran began selling the Plugless L2 Wireless charging system to the public in 2014.
In simple terms, inductive charging works by separating the two halves of an electric
transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
with an air gap – one half, the Plugless Power Vehicle Adapter, is installed on the vehicle and the other half, the Plugless Power Parking Pad, is installed on the floor of a garage or in a parking lot. When a car with an Adapter drives over a Pad, the two pieces are brought into close proximity, , then
current
Currents, Current or The Current may refer to:
Science and technology
* Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas
** Air current, a flow of air
** Ocean current, a current in the ocean
*** Rip current, a kind of water current
** Current (stre ...
from the
electrical grid flows through the coils in the Power Pad to create magnetic fields and these fields induce current flow in the Vehicle Adapter's coils to charge the
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
.
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) testing in 2013
found the system had a power delivery efficiency between 84%-90%, compared to 95%-99% for corded charging systems, depending on the alignment of the Adapter and Pad, the separation gap, and the rate of power transfer in use (kW).
In 2014, ''Popular Science'' included the Plugless L2 charging system as Best of What's New 2014.
As of October 2016, the Plugless L2 was being sold for use with the Nissan LEAF, Chevrolet Volt, Cadillac ELR and Tesla Model S. In 2020, support for BMW i3 had been added, while the original plans were much more ambitious: targeting 80% of EVs by 2017.
In 2020, the Plugless Power product portfolio was purchased from Evatran by Verde eSystems. Verde eSystems changed its name to Plugless Power, Inc. in January 2021. Plugless Power, Inc. is incorporate in Texas and operates from Houston.
Manufacturer
Founded in 2009, Evatran was formed as a clean technology subsidiary of MTC Transformers, an award-winning American manufacturer of high-quality, precision-engineered transformers and rewind services based in
Wytheville, Virginia
Wytheville is a town in, and the county seat of, Wythe County, in southwestern Virginia, United States. It is named after George Wythe, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and mentor to Thomas Jefferson. Wytheville's populat ...
.
See also
*
Charging station
*
GridPoint
*
Inductive charging
*
OpenEVSE OpenEVSE is an Arduino-based charging station created by Christopher Howell and Sam C. Lin. The charger is composed of open-source software and hardware which can be made DIY.
History
The project started in February 2011 with a simple experiment ...
*
Vehicle-to-grid
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G), also known as Vehicle-to-home (V2H) or Vehicle-to-load (V2L) describes a system in which plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) sell demand response services to the grid. Demand services are either delivering electricity or by red ...
References
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External links
Plugless Power website
Charging stations
Electric vehicles
Wireless energy transfer
Privately held companies based in Virginia
Renewable energy organizations based in the United States