How Does Wireless EV Charging Work?

All current EV charging infrastructures rely on conductive charging to get the job done. In other words, electric vehicle owners need to plug in the vehicle manually using conventional charging cables. However, wouldn't it be great if modern EVs came standard with wireless charging capabilities? If automakers can give modern cars the ability to charge smartphone batteries wirelessly, why cant these same modern electric vehicles be wirelessly charged themselves?

American legacy auto giant General Motors has been looking into wireless EV charging as early as 2017. Back then, GM formed a partnership with fellow American wireless charging expert WiTricity to conduct pilot testing of the latter's Drive 11 park-and-charge system for future Cadillac, Chevy, and GM electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles. In 2019, WiTricity bought Qualcomm's wireless car charging technology to boost their own.

Japanese automaker Nissan signed a similar partnership with WiTricity that same year to give its proprietary Nissan Leaf the convenience of hands-free, wireless charging. On the other hand, Hyundai's luxury arm Genesis is introducing wireless inductive charging to its 2022 GV60 EV, the first production electric vehicle to feature an optional wireless charger, also derived from WiTricity's Drive wireless charging solutions.