• cmnybo
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    7 months ago

    This has got to be about the least efficient way to charge a car. Are the going to put solar panels in the road to power the wireless car chargers so they can waste even more money?

    • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      It’s not to charge it, but to power it in such a way that it doesn’t deplete the battery, especially on long distance trips. You’d obviously still need a battery for surface streets that aren’t retrofitted, or for driveways, parking lots drive thrus, etc, but this could possibly negate the need for all of these charging stations everywhere. Hell if enough cars have those undercarriage receivers as on the article, charging your car could be as simple as parking over a stationary coil, no cord needed.

      • cmnybo
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        7 months ago

        Wireless charging isn’t the most efficient in the best of conditions. The efficiency drops off rapidly as the distance between the coils is increased. The coils will have to be far enough under the road that they won’t be destroyed by traffic and far enough off the ground to not get ripped off the car. Using wireless charging for something that requires 10’s of kWh per charge is a terrible idea and will waste massive amounts of power. It’s an even worse idea for stationary charging. People shouldn’t be wasting all that power because the are too damn lazy to plug a cord in.

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        7 months ago

        I like the idea of just having a U-Haul-type system with battery trailers. Stop in, hitch up, do long-haul trip, drop off battery trailer.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I think the weight would be prohibitive if you’re talking battery packs. However, an engine running on biodiesel fuel would work pretty well.