[Hockeydad]

Does anyone know if our Karmas can be outfitted with something that would allow us to take advantage of all this wireless charging technology being developed?

 

[non sequitur]

Not that I know of, but when there is, I have a feeling you'll hear about it here first:
http://www.pwr-source.com
(subscribe to get emails at the bottom of the page)

 

[Fabulist]

Does anyone know if our Karmas can be outfitted with something that would allow us to take advantage of all this wireless charging technology being developed?

If the proliferation of the same technology in cell phones is any indication, until there is a common standard, it is unlikely that there would be widespread adoption. Inductive charging is much more useful for public charging, IMHO, by eliminating the plug and cable, but until you can charge your car at an inductive charger, irrespective of who made made the charger (like we can do now with j1772), the adoption rate will be very slow.

Again, IMHO and YMMV.

 

[Harleyguy]

Feel fortunate the car charges the way it is

 

[SD Karma]

I looked onto this right after I got my Karma, over three years ago now, and was told it was not a good idea as the car was not set up to work with the systems that were available at the time. Have not looked into it since then. After charging with a level 1 for about a year and switching to a level 2 charger at home, I have not even thought about wireless charging.

 

[JCMorrill]

You need to understand that inductive charging means creating a magnetic field in the vicinity of the battery with enough inductive force to make electrons flow. You get that a cell phone battery is only 140Wh (watt hours) battery, and our Karma batteries are 21KWh (KILOWatt hours) batteries. That's 21000Wh. Assuming that they both charge in around 5 hours ... That'd be a magnetic field 1500 times stronger -- I'm not an expert, but I'd have to picture every iron/steal object in your garage flying off the walls and into your car. Something that would make a MRI look like a toy.
@PowerSource -- it's probably best that you weigh in here.

 

[Fabulist]

You need to understand that inductive charging means creating a magnetic field in the vicinity of the battery with enough inductive force to make electrons flow. You get that a cell phone battery is only 140Wh (watt hours) battery, and our Karma batteries are 21KWh (KILOWatt hours) batteries. That's 21000Wh. Assuming that they both charge in around 5 hours ... That'd be a magnetic field 1500 times stronger -- I'm not an expert, but I'd have to picture every iron/steal object in your garage flying off the walls and into your car. Something that would make a MRI look like a toy.
@PowerSource -- it's probably best that you weigh in here.

The larger inductive charging systems use resonant coupling to increase efficiency and transmission distance, which also significantly reduces the smount of magnetic energy that escapes the interface.

 

[JCMorrill]

Cool. Learned something today! Thanks, Fab!

 

[PowerSource]

the EMC/EMI from the coils of is less than that of an induction cooktop.. Karma too low to install receiver pad.

 

[Patrizio33]

We have done a number of wireless charging projects with Google and SAP on their Nissan Leaf and Chevy volt fleets ( http://greengears.net/category/inductive-charging/). While not impossible, installing a system like this in a Fisker would be quite a challenge. PowerSource has a very good point about the placement of the receiver under the car. Until we get adjustable suspension I for one don't want any more things hanging out under my car.