可以无线充电的电动车

Neil Butcher drives his wireless car to his Birmingham office. Recharging most electric cars requires a bulky cable to be plugged into a specially-designed socket. But with wireless charging, Butcher doesn't even need to leave his vehicle. He just parks over a rubber mat, links to a nearby charging post. A plate beneath his car automatically picks up charge by electromagnetic conduction.

"Communication goes on between the car and the pad initially before the electricity turns on the pad and then you get magnetic field that comes up and then received by the pad under the car. As a user, it all just happens very automatically. I drive over it, the light comes on to say it's communicating and another light comes on to say it's fully aligned, and then the third light comes on to say it's charging."

Butcher runs CABLED,  a West Midlands consortium, testing and promoting low-carbon vehicles. He says wireless charging has one distinct advantage over other electric systems he's tested.

"I never forget to charge,now I did forget to charge occasionally with the cabled car. But now I've got the wireless charging,it just turns on without any effort on my part."

British company HaloIPT is pioneering the system originally designed by researchers of the University of Auckland . HaloIPT believes wireless car's potential is endless. Technical operator Dick Stepson  says all major roads could be fitted with inductive strips, allowing vehicles to run on permanent wireless charge.

"If you've got an inductive-powered car or a charging-powered car,you just drive it forever. And you never take it anywhere and you never plug it in,you never do anything with it and you just park where you wanna park it, parks up. So you just forget the whole issue of charging and so you just completely eliminate raging anxiety. In fact you can completely eliminate the need to go anywhere to fuel your car."

HaloIPT is working with a number of authorities to develop the technology as quickly as possible. Its ambitious plan for wireless roads does face obstacles, including the potentially high cost of installation. But the company is convinced that its technology is the holy grail of efficient, inexpensive, and environmentally-friendly motoring.

Jim Drury,Reuters.