Hyundai-Kia, Mojo Mobility Develop Wireless Charging System for Kia Soul Test Fleet

The Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center and Mojo Mobility developed a fast-charging wireless power transfer system on a test fleet of Kia Soul electric vehicles, said the companies Monday. The three-year project, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, paves the way for the future of electric vehicles "in which plugs are no longer necessary," they said. The compact wireless charging system can transfer more than 10 kilowatts to a vehicle for fast charging with a target 85 percent grid-to-vehicle efficiency, they said. The system uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between two coils -- a transmitter on the ground and a receiver on the bottom of the vehicle. The driver parks the car above the transmitter to begin charging, and energy is sent through inductive coupling to an electrical device, which uses that energy to charge the electric vehicles' battery, said the companies. For convenience, the system allows for some misalignment between the transmitter and the receiver, they said. Although there are no current plans to offer the wireless charging system on production vehicles for sale to consumers, the success of the test project "suggests similar systems are possible on future Kia electric vehicles."