Volvo C30 EV charges from any standard outlet, bills the driver

Volvo’s electric vehicle technology is some of the best the industry has to offer – and it’s about to become even cleaner. Volvo will begin testing of its new Volvo C30 Electric, which is powered by wireless charging technology.

The current C30 Electric is charged wirelessly through a port within the car’s front grille. With inductive charging, a magnetic field is created between a charging plate on the ground and the vehicle’s inductive pick-up, which transfers electricity from the energy source to the battery. The car’s built-in voltage converter converts the alternating current to direct current, which is fed into the car’s battery pack. Using this method, a fully drained 24kWh battery will take an hour and 20 minutes to fully recharge, according to Volvo. In the current C30 Electric, the 24kWh lithium ion battery pack can be recharged in 6-8 hours using a 230-volt outlet.

There are no wireless charging standards for electric vehicles, but someday the technology could be integrated into roads and highways to continuously charge electric vehicles, effectively putting an end to range anxiety.

“One aspect of this project is to integrate this technology into the road surface and to take energy directly from there to power the car,” says Johan Konnberg, project manager for Volvo. But it won’t be any time soon, he adds.