Kia Soul EV used to develop wireless charging system with Mojo Mobility

Kia Motors and Mojo Mobility have been awarded a funding grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies (VT) program to research and develop a system capable of fast charging an electric vehicle wirelessly. While Mojo Mobility’s existing product line covers wireless charging of mobile gizmos (cell phones, etc) they have developed technology for 20 kiloWatt charging through a wireless connection.

The teams will develop the fast wireless charging technology using a fleet of Kia Soul EV’s. Engineers will be HQ’d at the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center, Inc. in Superior Twp., Michigan, and Mojo Mobility in Santa Clara, California.

The goal is a fast charging system, that connects wirelessly. The first phase is expected to demonstrate more than 85 percent grid-to-vehicle efficiency while charging at over 10 kW. That’s not quite fast charging, though it’s much faster than the 6 kW charging rate we typically get. The second phase will bump the efficiency to 92%, and the third phase will gather real world performance data and test the systems’ durability, interoperability, safety, and performance.

The Mojo Mobility system uses what they call “Near Field Power” technology. Basically, wireless charging involves a sending unit – and a receiving unit. Typically both are coils of wire, and you can think of this as the two halves of a transformer separated by a distance.

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About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.