Qualcomm is a specialist in 3G, 4G and next generation wireless technologies. The company has developed a pair of wireless charging solutions – one for portable electronics and another for electric vehicles. Ian Adcock heard more from Qualcomm’s VP Business Development & Marketing, Dr Anthony Thomson.
“We’re coming out of a global financial crisis, but we’re about to step blindly into a health crisis if we’re not careful. I really do believe that driving electric vehicles (EVs) and increasing the number of EVs in places where we walk around and breathe the air is absolutely key. It will take a lot of effort from various parties, but there’s no getting away from the fact that OEMs are spending huge amounts of money and effort and resources on developing electrified powertrains, whilst cities need to encourage the uptake of EVs and prohibit the use of polluting vehicles in certain areas.
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“Qualcomm has a duty as do the media, OEMs, utilities and government, at all levels to keep pushing and it will happen I have no doubt.”
Of course you would expect someone working for a company that is investing heavily in wireless charging technology to be evangelical about the future of EVs, but Thomson is pragmatic enough to realise that this isn’t going to be an overnight revolution and that the future success of EVs is influenced by many factors. Nor is he predicting the imminent demise of vehicles powered by the internal combustion engine, just that city pollution and its resulting health hazards will develop into such an issue that urban, commuting EVs, will be an inevitably.
Qualcomm’s wireless charging technology has, he claims, numerous advantages over current plug-in or charging bollard, lead systems for recharging vehicles both at home and in public or work place locations.
“If you get a more dense charging network it will allow people to pick up charge at home, work and where they park up at shopping malls, super markets, sports clubs etc. then you can de-emphasise the batteries inadequacies.
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By GlobalData“To do that you need the technology to be deployable and I think we’ve all learned the lesson that the charging bollard approach is proving difficult, it’s a bit of an eyesore and the act of plugging in is quite arduous.
“There’s a need to get away from the ‘Do I or don’t I plug in?’ debate, it’s like driving past a petrol station every time and thinking ‘Do I need to fill up?’
“If we can get to the point that you just park the car and it charges the technology is then easier to use and more convenient to deploy. Moreover, it’s easy to trip over the cables, it’s a hassle and not pretty for a premium car. If we can give the utilities a more easily deployable technology then it will encourage uptake.”
Qualcomm’s latest ‘Double D Quadrature’ design employs multi-coil technology to reduce packaging size and weight and also allows bigger lateral tolerances, up to 150mm, meaning the vehicle doesn’t have to park perfectly accurately over the charger. OEMs, says Thomson can “Cut it two ways”, by either maximising the performance by doubling the lateral tolerance or keeping the tolerance the same if the OEM wants to reduce the weight of the on-board hardware and since much of the weight is “not inexpensive copper” it helps keep costs down.
The advantage of multi-coil technology is that it’s like a universal recipient and works with other structures like solenoid and circular magnetic chargers. This allows some form of a standardisation of the base hardware and gives OEMs confidence that if they were to go with a particular type of base structure then irrespective of what other manufacturers were putting on their vehicles it would still work.
Even though the charging plate only requires between 25 and 70mm depth to be located, depending on whether it is being parked over or frequently driven over, the vision of EVs being constantly charged on the go in established metropolises like London, New York or Paris is probably going to remain in the realms of science fiction. However, that is not to say that tailored charging routes wouldn’t be feasible as Thomas explains: “There’s a strong indication that the electrification of public transport whether it be buses, taxis or car share is going to happen. I think the taxi, especially, has potential – you see all those cabs sitting in rows and instead of chugging out particulates etc. If they were EVs all being charged it would be far healthier but there’s no way a cabbie would get out and plug in.
“We’re keen on that and have got fingers in pies, but we need the vehicles – it’s that chicken and egg thing. There’s a bit of a rush on as to who will be the EV cab provider in London for example and discussions with those companies are ongoing, buses too…
“Trials are going on in Milton Keynes trials, and if you charge the bus at each end of its route wirelessly, that means smaller batteries are required which is a significant cost saving.”
Most people agree that a better battery would be welcome, says Thomson, definitely one that is cheaper, lighter and with better energy density. But he argues that where EVs are going to make the most impact is “in our cities and there for the driving range people need, EVs aren’t that bad today.”
“I don’t think range or lack of it is the major impediment I think it’s more the cost of battery and the level of infrastructure to give people the confidence that if they do want to go further afield they will be able to, combined with the speed of charge,” he says.
“It’s not a simplistic ‘Better battery more sales argument, I think it’s better battery, more infrastructure and cheaper cars.
“Our view is that if you flip the battery thing on its head, so rather than throw more energy storage capacity and, therefore, weight and cost and longer charge times you are exacerbating the problem rather than fixing it.”
