While Inductive charging isn’t a new concept, CES 2011 is showcasing some brand new uses for it. Typically reserved for electric toothbrushes or phones, Fulton Innovation are showing some amazing uses for the technology. Shown off in a video from Engadget we see a cereal box lighting up when placed on a inductive surface. It even animates. Imagine this in store shelves, products could come to life, hopefully the tech inside the box is relatively cheap and doesn’t significantly increase the product cost.
Probably a much more practical and frankly a freaking awesome use of inductive charging is on an electric car ! The plan here is that these charge points would be built into parking spaces or even your home garage. Simply park in the spot, walk away and when you return the car would be charged, eliminating the need for a cable at all. There are losses for having this convenience, but Fulton say its only around 7%.
The car being demonstrated at CES is the Tesla Roadster, the vehicle responsible for popularising electric cars of today and proving electric is indeed practical. In a perfect world the power prided would be drawn from solar rather than typical coal-generated electricity. In theory, linking power from solar panels on the roof of your garage to a inductive charge point in your floor wouldn’t be too difficult, at least not for new houses.
Image credit: Engadget
Read more about Inductive charging by Fulton Innovation at Engadget.
