BMW launches wireless electric car charging system touting 85% efficiency
13 replies, posted
BMW is officially launching its wireless electric car charging system today. Starting now, customers can order a BMW 530e iPerformance with a factory-fitted system to work with BMW’s optional inductive charging system.
The option is touted as more “convenient” than charging with a cable, but it comes at a high cost: the actual cost, but more importantly – efficiency.
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The inductive charging station called GroundPad can be installed in a garage or outside and it connects to the vehicle’s charging system over a distance of around eight centimetres through a magnetic field.
BMW says that it will also offer a service to install the GroundPad starting in Germany, but subsequently followed by “the UK, the US, Japan and China.”
The system has a charging power of 3.2 kW and “an efficiency rate of around 85%”, which BMW calls “very efficient.”
BMW launches wireless electric car charging system touted as con..
Personally I can't see much use for it outside of people with disabilities and such.
Doesn't make much sense from a cost perspective either. 85% efficiency is still way bellow the 98%+ efficiency you get recharging batteries
It's probably more in the range of 90% - 95% I'd guess. Iirc Tesla's are 92% efficient with the official wall connector. But still I wouldn't pay 5 to 10 percent more to avoid the 5 seconds it takes to plug in.
The advantage of wireless charging is that - if it was a universal standard - you could just put them in parking spots and people could just drive onto it and go about their business without the worry that some dipshit teenager will yank out the charger.
I thought that they locked in place?
They're crafty little shits; I'm sure a lock won't stop 'em.
The charging ports are standardized as well now in most of the world, only Tesla seems to want to do something special (which I don't really agree with). Yeah okay it eliminates the potential for idiots to unplug cars, but not sure it's worth it. I guess I can see the advantage of doing it for people with on street parking though, to avoid unsightly wires and charging posts.
Now they just gotta launch an electric car that actually performs as advertised and doesn't look like a horrid fat gremlin LOOKING AT YOU, i3
The first all electric BMW that looks like a normal car will be the iX3:
https://carwow-uk-wp-1.imgix.net/bmw-ix3-side-profile.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0
Great, more SUV cancer.
Where my electric M2 at, ya bloody krauts
It makes sense that companies are electrifying SUVs first, as there's a lot of demand for them in the western markets. The main downside has always been fuel economy, but if it's electric then it will cost less to run then a shitty base spec Corsa.
Eh, the most Bimmers I've seen around here and other European countries are usually the smaller ones. It feels like they'd make more dosh focusing on 1-series and other 2-door models.
But I'm maybe biased cause I like cars how I like women: short, curvy and tough, and that like rough handling :v
M2 near where I live, looks bloody good.
If bmw manages to get electricity working with the bmw formula of going sideways, then they are ready for the future.
I'm sure they sell more units of those, but I imagine the margins are a decent bit lower. Plus they might not have the capacity to make enough batteries for something like that.
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