When the four-seater electric iMiev goes on sale in Britain next year, Mitsubishi will make great virtue of the city car’s 30-minute charging capability, but the next generation of electric car promises to re-charge quickly, wirelessly and maybe even on the move.
Plug-in electric cars
The iMiev has a range of around 90 miles on a full charge, which would take approximately eight hours from a household electrical supply. However, a fast charger supplied by the Tokyo Electric Power Company is able to restore 80 per cent of the battery’s power in half an hour – making it ideal for installation at motorway service stations or supermarket car parks.
A spokesperson at the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Even though a 90-mile range is more than adequate for most journeys, people are understandably apprehensive about electric vehicles that take many hours to re-charge – fast chargers will make electric cars a more practical proposition.”
Wireless charging for electric cars
Plugging in an electric vehicle in order to re-charge its batteries may eventually seem as outmoded as early remote controllers that were attached to the television set by a wire.
Electro-conductive charging allows electric vehicles to power their batteries without the need for cables by simply parking near a charging point. The system does away with the heavy, and awkward industrial-size plug needed by conventional fast charger.
Plug-less electro-conductive charging stations could be located anywhere that cars are likely to stop and would comprise half of what is essentially a transformer, while the other half will be mounted as an adapter on the front of the electric vehicle. When the car is parked near the charging point, the two halves work together to produce the electric current needed to charge the battery.
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