Researchers in Spain Develop the First Mobile Charging System for Electric Vehicles

One of the biggest issues electric car owners face is the lack of adequate charging infrastructure, which definitely prevents a further expansion of the electric vehicle market. That's why energy companies, along with automakers, are looking for solutions to get around this problem, until an extensive network of charging stations is put in place. For instance, Swedish car maker Volvo has proposed inductive charging for electric cars, with charging conductors embedded under the road surface, that create an electromagnetic field, transferring energy to a car's battery while the vehicle is on the go.

However, these types of systems are quite expensive and complicated to install, unlike the idea that was recently introduced by Instituto Tecnologico de la Energia (ITE), headquartered in the city of Valencia, Spain, which doesn't require any interventions or modifications to the existing road infrastructure or any additional investments by automakers or energy providers.

Scientists at the ITE have created a mobile EV charging system, that allows EV owners to charge their vehicles from any plug, eliminating the need for a special charging point. The ITE's project is called PREMISE, and its main goal is to make it easier for people to recharge their electric cars, by making it possible to do it where ever they want to. It consists of a portable recharge suitcase, which drivers can use to connect their cars to the electric grid at any charging point that has been authorized by a company that supplies electricity.

The ITE has created a system that can identify the user and the supply point, so that it can determine whether a given charging point is being used to recharge an electric vehicle or it is being used for another purpose. Researchers tested the system using a Renault Fluence EV, and the project was funded with 800,000 Euro, which was granted by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

This is not the only project involving a mobile electric vehicle charging system that is being conducted in Europe at the moment. RAC, a British automotive services company that offers roadside assistance, launched its mobile charging system recently, which is supposed to cater to the needs of electric vehicle owners across the United Kingdom. The RAC has equipped one of its Volkswagen Transporters with a portable fast charging unit, that can provide an electric car with 15 miles of range in about 30 minutes, which should be enough to get the car to the nearest charging station. It's a 5-kW charging unit which can fully recharge a car's battery in four hours.

The RAC says that this type of service, providing electricity to stranded cars whose batteries has gone empty, could help enable a more widespread adoption of electric vehicles in the UK, which currently has about 10,000 EVs on its roads.

These types of charging solutions may play a critical role in the efforts to make electric vehicles mainstream, which depends largely on the existence of a proper charging infrastructure, in addition to resolving the range anxiety issue.