Oak Ridge Lab sets new charging record

The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has announced a new record for inductive charging of electric cars: the team claims to have wirelessly charged a Porsche Taycan with an output of 270 kW.

Image: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

This marked the culmination of ORNL’s collaboration with the Volkswagen Group, as the team was able to charge a Porsche Taycan wirelessly with an output of 270 kW. Recently, a Porsche Taycan was fast-charged using the jointly developed wireless multi-phase charging system, however, ORNL does not state how long the 270 kW systems lasted or how long the charging process took in total.

The charging system itself is said to be integrated into the underbody of the vehicle and uses lightweight multiphase electromagnetic coupling coils with a diameter of just under 50 centimetres. The project participants state that the system can increase the charge level by 50 per cent within ten minutes with an efficiency of over 95 per cent. The energy is transferred via a twelve-centimetre gap between the floor and the coil mounted on the underside of the vehicle.

“The receiver coil designed for the Porsche Taycan research vehicle can achieve 8 to 10 times higher power density compared to existing systems,” says Omer Onar, head of the Vehicle Power Electronics group at ORNL and lead researcher at the Porsche demonstration. “Per kilowatt weight, this is also the most lightweight charging system in the world.”

Lyndon Lie, Chief Engineering Officer of Volkswagen Group of America, speaks of significant advances: “Innovation projects being researched in East Tennessee will transform the automotive industry. Wireless charging like that demonstrated with Oak Ridge could make charging EVs significantly easier for consumers, with quick charging times encouraging zero emissions adoption and leading to a more sustainable transportation sector charging, as demonstrated in Oak Ridge, could make charging electric cars much easier for consumers, with fast charging times encouraging the adoption of zero-emission vehicles and leading to a more sustainable transport sector.”

ORNL and Volkswagen say they plan to continue their collaboration in the near future to further improve the 270 kW charging prototype. The next step is to “develop it into a more cost-effective and manufacturable system,” they say.

spectrum.ieee.org, ornl.gov