Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is aiming to prove that it is ahead of the curve when it comes to electric cars by developing a wireless car charging technology.

While we are very much in the early years of the electric vehicle era, there is limitless amount of innovation taking place, and some of that is now seeing the light of day. The concept of charging an electric vehicle is one which is currently being investigated, with the Volvo engineers investigating whether they can power-up the vehicle without the need to plug-in a charger.

It’s a similar concept to wireless phone charging, whereby the device simply sits on top of a charger pad. The trial in the Swedish city of Gothenburg will see drivers park their car over a charging pad embedded in the street, with energy sent through the pad into a receiver unit in the car.

Volvo will be working on a small fleet of XC40 Recharge cars for the experiment, the vehicles will be used as taxis by Cabonline, the biggest taxi operator in the Nordic region. The wireless chargers will be used for 12 hours a day, with the cars driving 100,000 km per year to test the durability of the concept.

The Gothenburg Green City Zone initiative was launched last year in partnership with Volvo, with the aim of having completely emission-free transport across the city by 2030.

“Gothenburg Green City Zone lets us try exciting new technologies in a real environment and evaluate them over time for a potential future broader introduction,” said Mats Moberg, Volvo’s head of research and development. “Testing new charging technologies together with selected partners is a good way to evaluate alternative charging options for our future cars.

“Using a real city as a testing ground will enable the company to accelerate development of technologies and services in the areas of electrification, shared mobility, autonomous driving, connectivity and safety.”

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