Wireless Charging System for Kia Soul EV

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Hyundai-Kia America Technical Centre Inc., (HATCI) and Mojo Mobility Inc., a wireless power technology company will work together on a project to develop a wireless charging system capable of fast charging an electric vehicle wirelessly. This project is awarded and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) office under the Vehicle Technologies program to research and develop a wireless charging system for the electric vehicles.

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Mojo Mobility is known for developing wireless charging systems for mobile applications such as laptops, tablets, mobiles and high power electric vehicles, allowing customers to charge and power their products without any physical connection between the charger and the product.

Kia recently launched its first electric vehicle 2015 Kia Soul EV in the U.S. market and will implement this new wireless charging system in these vehicles upon successfully testing it on the test fleet of Kia Soul EVs.

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The project is divided in three phases. The first phase is focused on developing a wireless power transfer system capable of transferring power in excess of 10kw at 85% grid-to-vehicle efficiency. This new system will also address an issue of miss-alignment between the energy transmitter on the ground and the energy receiver on the vehicle making it more convenient for day-to-day use. During second phase, the new system will be implemented in the Kia Soul EV and target is to achieve 92% power transfer efficiency. The third and final phase consists of implementing new wireless technology in the five test Kia Soul EVs to gather real world performance data and to check durability, performance and safety of the system.

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Dr. Afshin Partovi, CEO and founder of Mojo Mobility said, “We are delighted to partner with Kia and the U.S. DOE to bring the cutting-edge capabilities of our position-free wireless charging systems, which allow greater flexibility for vehicle alignment with the charging surface, to Kia Motors’ electric vehicles and accelerate their adoption and ease of use for consumers”.

However Kia has not issued any official statement regarding timeline to bring this product in the market.

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