By Eileen Falkenberg-Hull
Copyright newsweek
For some electric vehicle drivers today, not only is it a struggle to find a charging outpost, but it’s also a struggle to plug in to charge, given the heavy and cumbersome cord required. Porsche Wireless Charging allows future owners of its new battery-electric Cayenne SUV to charge without a cord, much the way an iPhone is charged today.”We don’t want to give the customers a reason not to buy an electric car,” Michael Schaetzle, vice president of the Cayenne model line, told Newsweek at IAA Mobility, an industry trade show. “We want to make it as comfortable as possible. There are a lot of people who don’t like putting the cable into the car.”He explained that with the new style of charging, owners no longer have to go to a gas station or visit a charging station and worry about getting dirty hands or contending with the elements while connecting or waiting for their fill-up.”It’s very comfortable for the customers. That’s the idea. [Inductive charging] is very successful with the iPhone. The idea is quite easy [for people to wrap their heads around]… The whole car [and charging solution] make it easy for the customers to change from the combustion engine car to the electric cars, because this car is equal, more than equal,” Schaetzle explained.Operationally, the system is quite simple. Using a traditional electronic device cord, the owner plugs an inductive charging plate into an outlet. The charging plate sits on the floor of their garage or in their driveway, ready to be used. It’s a simple one-box solution that does not require the installation of a wall box or control unit.Today, many electric vehicle owners install at-home wall charging stations that can cost thousands of dollars and require an electrician’s expertise to install. When an owner is ready to use the inductive charging plate, on the other hand, they simply park on top of it.And precision is not required. “You’re driving with your car in the direction of the plate and then the infotainment system exactly tells you where you have to steer… it doesn’t have to be very exact. And then it locks in, and then the car is charged [at a rate of] 11 kilowatts. So, overnight, the car is full again. It’s very easy for the customer and very comfortable,” he said.Once parked over the plate, the Cayenne’s ride height lowers automatically. Without requiring contact, energy then transfers from the plate to the battery – a distance of roughly four to six inches.”The base plate has a motion detector and foreign object detection. The charging process is automatically interrupted if interference is detected,” the company said in a press release.Cayenne owners will be able to track charging via their My Porsche app and are able to create pre-conditioning settings to meet their individual needs.The charging demonstrator at IAA featured a camouflaged vehicle that is larger than the current Cayenne. This next-generation model will be fully revealed before 2026.
