Ford plans $11.4bn investment in electric car plant By George Siviter-Tims Posted:14/10/21 Ford is planning to make a major investment into the EV Market, They have already released the Mustang Mach-e and have stated are going to be creating cars and pickups “at scale” for American Customers. VW has found a breakthrough in wireless EV charging. They have teamed up with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee. n extended range model from 0 to 80% in 10 minutes. The company have been able to succeed where other companies have been failing with their charger at 98% efficiency, only 2% of the energy is wasted through the charge. ORNL’s Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Science and Technology, Xin Sun has said “Our unique multi-phase electromagnetic coil design and power electronics have the potential to provide high power transfer levels in a compact system, reduce anxiety about the cruising range of electric vehicles and accelerate decarbonization” Wireless charging on the go is something of a holy grail for the electric vehicle industry. Such an approach could help eliminate so-called ‘range anxiety’, where drivers are put off purchasing an EV for fear of running out of charge before finding a chargepoint. It could also allow batteries in cars to be smaller, making electric cars cheaper to buy. But installing charging technology on major roads would be a significant financial investment. To date only a couple of countries are experimenting with electric roads – notably Sweden, which opened the first electrified stretch of road in 2018. There, electricity is transferred from metal tracks to vehicles via an electric arm on a vehicles’ undercarriage. Which cars can be charged wirelessly today? Currently, it is the charger manufacturers that are making both the chargers and the hardware needed to give an EV inductive charging. Some vehicle manufacturers have expressed interest in adding inductive charging as standard, with BMW running a trial with its 5 Series 530e iPerformance hybrid in 2018. The trial began in Germany and expanded to the US in 2019, with a small group of California residents invited to lease a 530e hybrid with wireless home charger for 36 months. + Power is transmitted over an air gap of three inches and is delivered with 85 percent efficiency. It has a charging power of 3.2kW, which is enough to fill the battery in 3.5 hours. Genesis is also working on inductive charging, and is making the feature available as an option on the new GV60 EV. Genesis claims the optional inductive charger will refill the SUV’s 77.4kWh battery more quickly than a typical home wall charger. Genesis is quoting a full charge of the 280-mile vehicle in six hours, compared to 10 hours via a conventional wall charger Error Insert consumer key for twitter feed slider addon