Case in point: this trip back East for Christmas, where I carved out an hour and a half to meet with the CEO of Momentum Dynamics, less than an hour’s drive from my family’s home in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Momentum Dynamics offers breakthrough technology in inductive (versus conductive) charging. For those scratching their heads here, we find this concept implemented in today’s electric toothbrushes, which are charged miraculously by merely replacing the brush – sans metal contacts — back into its base unit. Unbeknownst to the user, it sits there next to a modulating magnetic field that induces an electric current to flow into a conductive circuit within the toothbrush, recharging the battery.

Without doubt, inductive charging offers some advantages – especially relevant to certain applications of electric transportation. Take the taxicab as a perfect example. At first glance, we might conclude that taxis are not particularly good candidates for electrification, since they travel a huge range over a period of, say, 8 or 10 consecutive hours. But now realize that most taxis queue up regularly at predictable places, like airports. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, without physically plugging in, a taxi could recharge as it waited for its next passenger to emerge from baggage claim?

EVWorld editor Bill Moore believes that inductive charging will eventually win the day, and, with all the issues of safety and convenience, I have to agree that he’s right. Those wishing to follow the matter should look at SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) standard J2954. Perhaps the first thing to notice is that the standard is still evolving, meaning that many decisions remain to be made. Yet all the big players in electric transportation seem to be making this a huge priority, so don’t be surprised to see inductive charging in your automotive future.

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To be honest, I had never heard of this. So I asked a few colleagues: May I have some comments on this, please?

Here is the dialog:

From Bill Moore, EV World: The issue here is COST. This will work if it’s incorporated into a dedicated toll-road like the bypass around Denver or from DC out to Dulles. Feds, states and cities just won’t have the money to tear up streets and roads and embed this technology. I see a tough road ahead in the US. It’s more likely to make sense in China and India where they are building new roads. America is just too broke.

My response: Yes, I’m sure it’s pricey to install; I wonder how much per mile, and what the efficiency of the charging is. I would think another issue would be billing the energy to the consumer. And aren’t there safety and other feasibility issues with electromagnetic fields that powerful? Having said all this, one such lane in each of a city’s major freeways would be a huge step in the direction of charging ubiquity.

From Bill Moore: Exactly…. you pretty much hit them all. I am going to comment on this idea in Currents (on the EV World home page)

From: Douglas S. Wilson of ECO-Holland: Stationary induction systems will be feasible before roadways are built or retrofitted with such systems. I could see consumers’ garages and specific parking spaces at businesses or city parking lots could have induction systems embedded. A matching induction pickup coil could be built in or installed aftermarket to any electric vehicle. I think it’s a great idea. (Asks another colleague) Gary, How much power can be transferred with standard household voltages. How does the distance between the active and passive elements affect rate of energy transfer?

More on this later.

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