Friday 4 March 2022
Vattenfall tests wireless charging technology for all-electric taxis
Vattenfall is developing and testing a new wireless technology for taxis in a live city environment which will run for three years in Gothenburg, Sweden.
It is collaborating with Volvo Cars, taxi operator Cabonline, hardware supplier Momentum Dynamics, municipal energy company Göteborg Energi and municipal business development agency Business Region Gothenburg to trial its automated charging and payment solution, InCharge, which was introduced in 2016 has has 30,000 connected charging points in northern Europe.
The test, which includes a number of all-electric Volvo XC40 Recharge taxis, is expected to make payment effortless while the electric car is being charged wirelessly.
The charging starts automatically when a compatible vehicle parks over a charging pad embedded in the street, with a vehicle identifier in the car sending an authorisation to Vattenfall that summarises the payment once a month.
The cars will be used for more than 12 hours a day and drive 100,000 kilometres a year.
Susanna Hurtig, Director E-mobility Nordic said: “During the test period, Vattenfall will ensure that the automatic payment solution, InCharge, currently used for fixed charging solutions, is working smoothly in the context of wireless charging. This provides an opportunity to develop our solution for future alternatives for car charging and payment. To be able to charge and pay virtually is an important step and I look much forward the results of the test.
“At Vattenfall we always strive to improve ease of use and customer experience. To be able to test new technology in close collaboration across industries and organisations brings great value for future development and to work towards fossil free living within one generation,.”
This is the first durability test of all-electric Volvo cars in a commercial usage scenario.
Mats Moberg, head of Research and Development at Volvo Cars added: “Gothenburg Green City Zone lets us try exciting new technologies in a real environment and evaluate them over time for a potential future broader introduction.
“Testing new charging technologies together with selected partners is a good way to evaluate alternative charging options for our future cars.”
