No cords attached – we test wireless charging in Gothenburg

As of today, a small fleet of pure electric XC40s will don taxi signs, pick up passengers and help us test wireless charging technology.

Over a three-year period, this pure electric fleet will be used by Cabonline, the largest taxi operator in the Nordic region. Basically, they’ll drive our cars for hours on end and use wireless charging stations placed in central areas in Gothenburg to juice up the cars when needed.

This wireless charging test is one of many projects outlined within the strategic initiative Gothenburg Green City Zone, where designated areas within the city are used as live testbeds for the development of sustainable technologies.

Last year, we took part in launching the Gothenburg Green City Zone initiative, which aims to achieve emissions-free transport by 2030. Using a real city as a testing ground will enable us to accelerate development of technologies and services in the areas of electrification, shared mobility, autonomous driving, connectivity and safety.

“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,” said Mats Moberg, head of research and development. “Testing new charging technologies together with selected partners is a good way to evaluate alternative charging options for our future cars.”

The charging stations used in the test are delivered by Momentum Dynamics, a leading provider of wireless electric charging systems. Our 360-degree camera system helps the driver guide the car into position over a charging pad embedded in the street, but after that, the charging process in the test is all-automatic.

“When the car is correctly aligned with the embedded pad, the charging starts automatically, allowing drivers to conveniently charge without getting out of their car,” explains Robert Eriksson, senior technical leader from vehicle propulsion, who has led the work to enable wireless charging in the XC40s. “Since they’re hooked up to the power grid, they can have the entertainment and climate systems running while they wait for their next customer.”

A power station by the side of the charging spot sends energy to a transmitter pad in the ground, which then wirelessly relays it to a receiver unit on the underside of the car. On the car’s screens, the driver can track the charging percentage and the estimated time until the battery is fully charged. And when it’s time to leave, they can just drive away without having to unplug and deal with any cables.

For the fully electric XC40 Recharge cars, the wireless charging power will be more than 40 kW making the charging speeds around four times faster than a typical home charger. It’s almost as fast as a fast charger with 50 kW DC.

In total, the Volvo cars will be used for more than 12 hours a day and drive 100,000 km per year, which also makes this the first durability test of fully electric Volvo cars in a commercial usage scenario.