Where phone have led, cars will follow—first becoming malleable, software-centric platforms (e.g. Tesla rolling out Autopilot, improving cars’ acceleration, etc.), integrating voice assistants, and now adopting contactless charging. Sure, poking a plug into my car takes all of 15 seconds, but I’ll admit to being a touch jealous:
When approaching the pad, the 530e’s sensors and internal screen will navigate the driver to the necessary point above the charging pad. Once in position, the pad’s integrated coil, alongside a secondary coil found inside the car, generate an alternating magnetic field that will charge the car’s 9.4kWh battery in 3.5 hours with 3.2kW of power. The entire process can even be monitored via an app.
[YouTube]
Faraday and Maxwell are smiling.
Uh, do you really want the equivalent of several microwave ovens worth of EM waves blasting into your garage every day?
On the flip side, you can just buy your groceries, leave them in the car, and they’ll be cooked by the time your car is charged.