Porsche Unveils a Wireless Charger For Your Whole Car
Porsche is bringing the ease of wireless charging to its EVs, starting with the upcoming Cayenne EV SUV.
Wires and plugs are slowly disappearing from our day-to-day. Wireless inductive charging has become commonplace in modern cars, and Porsche is extending that functionality to charge the whole (electric) car itself. The German brand has unveiled its Wireless Charging floor plate, which eliminates the need for plugging in on longer charges.
As the image suggests, it works just like the setup for smartphones, only scaled up. The 110-pound (50-kilogram) pad can be installed in a garage or driveway, and connected to the main power supply. From there it can supply up to 11 kilowatts of power to a properly equipped car parked over top the pad. Porsche says the exchange hovers around 90-percent efficiency, as well.
Like phones, the cars will need to have the requisite hardware to take advantage of the setup. Porsche will offer the wireless charging plate on the upcoming Cayenne Electric, along with Wireless Charging pre-installation. The charging plate is located between the front wheels, and is protected from debris and weather. Since wireless charging requires a distance of only a few centimeters, the Cayenne will automatically lower. A special view within the SUV's Surround View parking camera setup allows drivers to easily place the charging plate above the charging pad. It's a pretty sizeable thing, being 46 inches (117 cm) long and 30.7 inches (78 cm) wide, though barely over 2 inches (6 cm) tall.
There are safeguards in place as well: the system will disengage charging if it detects an animal or metal object on the plate. The floor plate is also fully weather-resistant, CE and UL certified, and meets safety requirements in the US and Europe. Built-in LTE and WLAN equipment allows for remote software updates too.
Porsche says this new offering is about ease of use: by the brand's own count, over 80 percent of Porsche EV owners' time charging is done at home. This way, there's no faffing about with wires, just parking and getting on with the day.
Porsche Wireless Charging will launch in Europe next year before rolling out in other markets.
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Kyle began his automotive obsession before he even started school, courtesy of a remote control Porsche and various LEGO sets. He later studied advertising and graphic design at Humber College, which led him to writing about cars (both real and digital). He is now a proud member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), where he was the Journalist of the Year runner-up for 2021.
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