GOTHENBURG, Sweden – Volvo Cars is, with selected partners, integrating, and testing wireless charging technology in a real-life city environment for possible future electric cars.
For three years a small fleet of fully electric Volvo XC40 Recharge cars will be used as taxis by Cabonline, the largest taxi operator in the Nordic region, and charged wirelessly at stations in Gothenburg.
EVALUATING CHARGING OPTIONS
The test will be one of many projects planned for a Gothenburg Green City Zone concept under which designated city areas will be used for real-world testing of ”sustainable technology”.
Mats Moberg, head of research and development at Volvo Cars, told The Corner: “We’ll be able to explore technology on the road, over time, to evaluate broader introduction. Testing with partners is a good way to evaluate charging options.”
The stations will come from wireless charging systems company Momentum Dynamics which will install street charging-pads over which taxis will park while awaiting passengers. Energy will be picked up by a receiver by cars after parking accurately with the assistance of cameras.
Charging speeds around four times faster than a wired 11kW AC charger and almost as fast as a wired 50kW DC fast-charger to enable the taxis to work more than 12 hours a day and cover 100 000km a year – a real durability test for Volvo cars.
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Partners will include Swedish retailers Volvo Bil and Volvo Car Sörred, Swedish energy company Vattenfall and its charging network InCharge, city energy company Göteborg Energi, and Business Region Gothenburg, a municipal economic development agency owned by the City of Gothenburg.
Volvo Cars was involved during 2021 in launching the Green City initiative to achieve emissions-free transport by 2030 accelerate development of autonomous driving.
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