How wireless charging works for electric cars, explained

Today's electric-car drivers are used to plugging them in to recharge, but technology now exists that would allow them to cut the cord.

Wireless charging for electric cars is still in its infancy, but it has the potential to make ownership vastly more convenient.

Here's a quick explanation of how it works, courtesy of Engineering Explained.

Host Jason Fenske attended the recent Formula E race in Long Beach, California, and found a wireless-charging system in use there.

The Qualcomm Halo system was not used to charge the electric race cars themselves, but ratherFormula E's BMW i8 pace car.

The wireless-charging method takes advantage of the principles of electromagnetism.

Running electricity through a coil of wire creates a magnetic field, which allows the current to be transferred between two coils without any physical connection.

In the case of wireless electric-car charging, the two components are a pad on the ground and a receiver mounted on the underside of a vehicle.

Previous systems required the charging pad and receiver to be very close together, but Qualcomm claims its Halo system can operate with a gap of up to 250 millimeters (10 inches) between car and pad.

Read more: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1103710_how-wireless-charging-works-for-electric-cars-explained