March 3, 2022 — Volvo Cars is integrating and testing a new wireless charging technology over a three-year period using a small fleet of fully-electric Volvo XC40 Recharge cars that will be charged wirelessly at charging stations in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Volvo Cars will be deploying the XC40 Recharge models as taxis by Cabonline, the largest taxi operator in the Nordic region, to evaluate the potential of wireless charging for future electric cars. The wireless charging test is one of many projects outlined within the strategic initiative Gothenburg Green City Zone, under which designated areas within the city are used as live test beds for the development of sustainable technologies.
The charging stations used in the test are delivered by Momentum Dynamics, a provider of wireless electric charging systems. The charging starts automatically when a compatible vehicle parks over a charging pad embedded in the street, allowing drivers to conveniently charge without getting out of their car.
The charging station sends energy through the charging pad, which is picked up by a receiver unit in the car. To easily align the car with the charging pad, Volvo Cars will use its 360-degree camera system. For the fully electric XC40 Recharge cars, the wireless charging power will be more than 40kW, making the charging speeds around four times faster than a wired 11kW AC charger and almost as fast as a wired 50kW DC fast charger.
In total, the Volvo cars will be used for more than 12 hours a day and drive 100,000km per year, which also makes this the first durability test of fully electric Volvo cars in a commercial usage scenario.
Other partners involved in the wireless charging project include the company’s own Swedish retailers Volvo Bil and Volvo Car Sörred, Swedish energy company Vattenfall and its charging network InCharge, the city energy company Göteborg Energi, and Business Region Gothenburg, a municipal economic development agency owned by the City of Gothenburg.
Read the full Volvo Cars press release.