Two birds with one stone: HEVO’s Power Station tackles wireless charging and sustainability

In the past few decades, Electric Vehicles (or EVs) have experienced a revival. With the advancement of modern technology, electric motors have become better competitors to traditional gasoline engines. Lower consumption of gasoline will lead to greater environmental sustainability, a consequence that is of great importance in today’s energy crisis.

Electric vs Gasoline Vehicles: a holistic comparison

Nevertheless, certain obstacles obstruct the EV’s path to truly overtaking its gasoline-powered rival. One of the main obstacles is the inconvenience of charging the vehicle. With gasoline cars, gas stations instantaneously fill up the tank. On the other hand, electrical charging points aren’t available everywhere and are time consuming.

Enter the HEVO Power Station, a product that allows wireless charging of EVs. According to COO Steven Monks, the Power Station is a “hardware device that will allow Hybrid & Battery Electric Vehicles to power up: easily, automatically, wirelessly”. Clearly, these are three very ambitious claims. Can the Power Station really walk the talk? Time for the acid test.

Computer model of HEVO’s Power Station

Traditionally, EVs have to be plugged into a power outlet through wires to facilitate charging. But with the Power Station, all electrical circuitry is below the surface! As illustrated in the diagram below, power reaches the wireless source from underground. In essence, there is not a single wire sticking out of the ground. The positive implications of this are numerous. Firstly, underground wiring completely eliminates the chances of wires interfering with objects above the surface. Safety-wise, this is of great significance. Secondly, wires will not get damaged due to activity above and therefore, there will be minimal maintenance costs. Thirdly, municipal authorities tend to be very picky about wires sticking out of roads and once again, the Power Station successfully steers out of this situation. Evidently, the design feature of using underground circuitry is a masterstroke. But the firepower of HEVO’s Power Station does not stop there.

Resonance charging system of the Power Staton

Wireless charging is not entirely new to us. We see this phenomenon implemented in conventional inductive charging systems in select “smartphones, tablets, and retrofitted EVs like the Nissan Leaf”. However, the Power Station is based on resonance charging. In this system, coils are connected with capacitors that resonate at a specific frequency, which is where the name comes from. Compared to inductive charging, “the energy losses are reduced” in resonance charging and one can “transmit more energy at a faster rate”.

Choices in design usually come with certain drawbacks, as so it is with the Power Station. On first thought, one would question how underground circuitry can be set up all over a city without digging into roads. HEVO gets around that too. By integrating their wireless charging source into manholes, this arduous task is avoided. However, this suffers from a lack of aesthetic appeal. The notion of combining cutting-edge technology with manholes is not the most elegant solution. Nevertheless, this point is highly subjective.

What you will: manhole or charging station?

Moreover, using such advanced technology leads to greater manufacturing cost. The efficiency and rapidity of resonance charging will no doubt be accompanied by higher costs. Ali Izadi-Najafabadi, an analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, corroborated this view by saying: “The challenge is, it’s not that cheap”.

To sum up, the Power Station is a quintessential example of the challenge of achieving sustainability. The setup of wireless charging stations across the world will encourage people to use EVs. This in turn will bring about a shift in dependence from fossil fuels to cleaner technologies. The challenge, as we see again and again, is cost. Ali Izadi-Najafabadi concluded his aforementioned opinion with: “If they focus primarily on private customers and commercial shop owners, I think it’s going to be quite a successful business model”. As it goes into testing stage, let’s hope HEVO comes up with a sustainable, yet economically viable, solution for the Power Station.

Jeremy McCool (founder and CEO) and Steven Monks (COO) present their creation, the Power Station, with great enthusiasm

References used:

http://www.hevopower.com/#!wireless-products/cui8

http://www.core77.com/blog/transportation/this_week_in_ev_charging_stations_the_hevo_resonance-charger_looks_like_a_manhole_cover_synthesis_design_architectures_portable_volvo-charging_pavilion_25764.asp

http://www.designboom.com/technology/hevo-to-hide-wireless-ev-charging-stations-as-manhole-covers-10-23-2013/

http://futureenergy.ultralightstartups.com/campaign/detail/854

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-07/innovation-hevos-electric-car-charging-stations-embedded-in-street