Wireless Bypass

Sorry for the long time between posts here. I’m shifting over to a new system of writing and there should be some more frequent posts in the coming months. After all, there’s been a lot happening in the wireless communityand the most exciting doesn’t even have to do with phones.A New Zealand company called HaloIPT has developed a new technology that allows for charging cars wirelessly. If marketed internationally, this technology could make electric cars an even more marketable option. The best part? The technology could be embedded in roads to charge cars on the go. Theoretically, this would allow for almost infinite distances, and would also allow for smaller battery sizes. The new technology is called Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) and was developed by the Power Electronics Group at the University of Auckland. It uses magnetic fields to transfer power, as opposed to the traditional cables or brushes. A transmitting pad is located on the ground, and the car would have a receiving pad. Charging would be possible even while driving if the transmission pad was reliable enough, although parking is still the better option.The cars have been demonstrated in London and wowed people used to traditional electric carsand isn’t it strange that we can even say that? Models such as the G-Wiz, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and the Nissan Leaf must be connected to an electric socket by cable in order to charge. HaloIPT CEO Anthony Thompson believes that this new technology will relieve drivers who have been holding off on going electric because of fears about forgetting to charge. His remarks are blunt”People are inherently lazy and they don’t like having to take action. With our system, you can recharge without having to make a conscious decision,” he told The Guardianbut the end result is worth looking into. Electric car sales have been declining in recent years. In the United Kingdom, sales dropped by 90 over the last two years, meaning only 55 models were sold in 2009.HaloIPT expects that retrofitting existing cars with the technology would cost 4,786-5,584, so the success of the technology mainly depends on whether new developers will want to take advantage of IPT. Another alternative charging technology, battery-swapping at designated refueling stations, has also been developed recently, and is being set up in the states of California and Hawaii, as well as in countries like Israel and Australia.