BMW Wireless Charging Pads — The Most Convenient Form Of EV-Charging?

Today's electric cars are charged using a wall-connector at home, office or a dedicated EV-charging outlet. While this is in no way a hard ordeal, the ability to charge cars without having to connect any wires is simply a brilliant idea.

While the technology will be launched extensively across Europe, it will come only with the BMW 530e hybrid sedan in the US; that too, only in California.

BMW has been researching on wireless EV-charging for quite some time now. In fact, they had approached Daimler to sign an agreement on the topic, four years ago.

‘The user no longer needs a charging cable between the car and socket in the wall to supply the energy storage unit of the car with new energy. In future, the vehicle will simply drive over a flat station and non-contact charging is started - for example at home, at work or even on the road during a stopover' - stated the agreement.

However, since this technology is still in its infant form, the charging time is almost 15% slower than a conventional wall-charging.

The Working

The system comes with a dedicated page on the car's existing infotainment system; in this case, the BMW 530e's iDrive unit. It guides the driver to correctly position the vehicle over the pad. Once the car rests correctly over the charging-mat, the driver can simply start the charging process by a push of a button.

There isa dedicated app which gives real-time data including the charging progress, using WiFi.

The mat is also complaint with global safety standards. The electromagnetic radiation emitted by the system is lesser than that of a household induction cooker.

The charging pad is fit for using indoors. It is capable of detecting unwanted intrusions, such as toddlers and pets; thus avoiding potential hazards.

The technology is one of the many concepts that come under BMW's 100th Anniversary Campaign that strives towards innovation and electric mobility.

Thoughts On The BMW Wireless Charging Pad

The BMW wireless charging technology seems to be highly promising in terms of convenience and practicality. The ability to charge an electric car, just by parking it over a pad, diminishes the need of having a charging port on the vehicle's body. Though it cannot match the charging speed of a wall charger as of now, we expect it to develop a lot with time.