Electric Fuel Pumps for Wireless Power Transfer: Enabling rapid growth in the electric vehicle market

This article discusses recent improvements in wireless power transmission (WPT) technologies as applied to the charging of electric vehicles (EVs). Emphasis is placed on the commercial potential of this new technology and how it can enable rapid growth of the EV market, primarily by using automatic operation to achieve driving range extension. Unlike plug-in charging, wireless charging is profoundly disruptive, as it can displace the current fueling paradigms of petroleum fuel dispensing and manual plug-in EV charging. The combination of new long-range (> 200-mi) passenger EVs coupled with highpower automatic opportunity charging provides an effectively unlimited range for most drivers. This article discusses these commercial advantages in the context of a better understanding and best practices with respect to inductive charging systems and near-field resonant magnetic induction science, standards development, safety, autonomous vehicles systems integration, and communications systems.