Volvo recently announced that it will test a new wireless charging technology with partners in Gordenburg, Sweden, with a wireless charging power of more than 40kW, which is 4 times faster than an 11kW AC charger, and will help the brand accelerate technological innovation and service development in areas including electrification, car sharing, autonomous driving, intelligent interconnection and safety through the real metro area as a new technology experimental field.
In order to make electric vehicles more accessible, Volvo Cars is testing the new wireless charging technology in a real urban environment with selected partners, and it is expected that cabonline, the largest taxi rental operator in the Nordic region, will use XC40 Recharge as a taxi within 3 years and charge wirelessly at the charging station in Gordenburg, Sweden.
Partners involved in the wireless charging test include Volvo's Swedish retailers Volvo Bil and Volvo Car S rred, Swedish energy company Vattenfall and its charging network InCharge, city energy company G teborg Energi, and Business Region Gothenburg ( an economic development organization directly managed by the City of Godenburg).
Wireless charging testing is one of the key projects in Gordenburg's plan to build a green city, and designated areas in the city can be used as a test site for sustainable technology research and development. Mats Moberg, Head of R&D at Volvo Cars, said: "The Gothenburg Green City Programme allows us to experiment with exciting innovations in a real-world environment, and as testing time accumulates, we can also assess whether the method can be widely used, and testing new charging technologies with selected partners is a good way to evaluate future car charging alternatives."
The wireless charging system is provided by Momentum Dynamics, a leader in the field, and when a compatible vehicle is parked on a charging pad embedded in the street, charging starts automatically and the driver does not need to get out of the car to charge. Volvo's 360-degree surround camera system easily aligns the XC40 Recharge with a charging pad that charges the on-board power management system at more than 40kW, four times faster than an 11kW AC charger and almost as fast as a 50kW wired DC charger. At the same time, in the future, these XC40 Recharge test vehicles will be tested in the form of more than 12 hours per day and 100,000 kilometers per year, which can be regarded as the first durability test of Volvo's pure electric vehicles in the commercial field.
In 2021, Volvo participated in the launch of the Gotenburg Green City Initiative to help realize the vision of zero carbon emissions in transportation by 2030, and the use of real metropolitan areas as experimental sites for new technologies will help the brand accelerate technological innovation and service development in areas including electrification, shared cars, autonomous driving, intelligent interconnection and safety.