Inductive charging is already standard on electric toothbrushes and transport robots used in production facilities. Electric vehicles could also benefit from the user-friendliness of no-contact charging. It would eliminate the need for cables used to hook cars up to charging stations in rain, sleet or snow-cables that are easily tripped over. With inductive charging, all you would have to do would be to park the car and wait for the charge to complete.

The concept involves embedded coils, which transmit electricity to the car battery cable-free. Parking spots featuring this technology commence the charging process automatically, as soon as the car has identified itself-also via a wireless link. Transmission losses are kept to a minimum under ideal conditions. Adapting and optimizing inductive charging to electric vehicles is one of E.ON's goals.

It is important to not only test and refine the method early on, but also to create standards and adapt existing regulations to current needs. E.ON promotes research in the field and is already subjecting inductive charging to daily tests on a daily delivery van equipped with an electric drive. Experience amassed in the process will be built upon in close cooperation with industrial partners from development to mass production. And by the way, the magnetic field created during inductive charging is monitored by safety systems and is thus completely harmless to both humans and animals. Parking spots equipped with this technology can supply power to electric cars without cables-thanks to inductive charging.