Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrates 100-kW wireless charging from a parking space
The white coats at Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) in Tennessee have hit a research milestone for the world of electric vehicles that seems like a plausible reality in the coming decade. Earlier this month, after parking a Hyundai Kona EV over a new wireless charger design, the scientists and engineers registered a max wireless charging rate of 100 kW across a five-inch air gap at a claimed efficiency of 96%. In an earlier bench test, researchers hit 120-kW wireless charging speeds, but this test used a production car parked atop the prototype coil. The power registered is equivalent to a lower Level 3 plug-in system using a good cable, trouncing the best commercially available wireless chargers and wall-mounted Level 2 systems — potent enough to restore about 350 miles in an hour of charging compared to around 42 miles. In the case of the Kona EV, a full charge at the max rate would take less than an hour.
