Nissan patents wireless charging for its EVs

Without a doubt, Nissan’s LEAF has been the media starlet for being one of the most popular EVs today. Having an already innovative platform to work on, Nissan is taking a page from the smartphone industry by adopting and scaling one of the newest additions to the feature set found in our pocketable telecommunications devices – wireless charging. 

As it stands now, EVs must be charged through a wire that is accessed by the gas cap. Traditionally, this is also how you charge most things. A laptop needs a cable, a phone needs a cable, even your powerbank needs a cable in order to send power to your device. Recently wireless charging has become the norm in midrange to high end smartphones. Through the use of magnetic induction coils, power is sent and received by the device that charges the battery. 

Now take that concept and scale it up to feed the batteries of an EV. That is what Nissan has recently patented in India. The technology allows the owner to simply park in a designated spot, and let his batteries charge without the need for a cable. Much like charging your phone wirelessly, all you have to do is set it and forget it. 

Nissan goes a step further and developed an advanced parking assist feature to help the user park properly at the designated location to ensure that the charging coil is in proper contact with the receiving coil. 

In India, the Nissan LEAF is expected to make landfall later in 2019. The Philippines will be getting this innovative EV in 2020 however, giving consumers in both parts of the world, an EV that will be able to meet the demands of our daily commutes. Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility campaign also includes the LEAF as part of its offering under this campaign. 

So with these new parking slots, gone are the days where owners will have to fumble around with a charging cable. Gone will be the days where owners even need to lift a gas cap or a charging port cover. Set it and forget it. Integration like this is what can help EVs become more acceptable in modern society, and Nissan is committed to its drive to bring a greener future into the hands of car buyers as seen in their Demystifying EVs series.