Tesla CEO explains efficiency angle in wireless charging technology

Tesla has become the first electric vehicle (EV) maker to announce wireless charging tech and some questions about efficiency are now addressed by the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.

At the We Robot event on October 10, Tesla unveiled its fully autonomous Cybercab, which supports wireless charging. Similar to smartphones, the car needs to park over a charging pad to start charging.

Unlike smartphones, the car might not need to sit on the wireless charging pad. Instead, it may entirely rely on the magnetic field from a certain distance to transfer the energy.

This last aspect has drawn some concern from people online. Some suggest that the efficiency of wireless power transfer in EVs could reach around 75%. However, Tesla claims its tech could go above 90%.

The matter of efficiency is quite important in wireless charging, which could be reduced due to various reasons such as foreign objects, heat, and charging distance. However, CEO Musk has shared his company’s approach to efficiency and how it differentiates from wired charging.

“There’s no meaningful efficiency difference between inductive and conductive charging if the system is designed right. There is always an inductor somewhere in the charge circuit” wrote Musk on social media site X.

In simple words, the design and components are the key factors in providing efficiency for wireless charging as it doesn’t differ much from plug-in charging architecture.

Certain design flaws including component quality, circuit layout, and heat management are responsible for charging efficiency meters.

The last part of the statement mentions a coil, a wire coil used to store energy in a magnetic field. For wired charging, it smoothens the current flow and for wireless charging, the inductor in the charging pad and the vehicle creates the electromagnetic field for energy transfer.

Tesla has also published a promo video of Cybercab wirelessly with a charging pad, check it via the link below.

Here’s our first look at Tesla Wireless Charging for Cybercab [Video]