I’ve written about electric cars on a number of occasions. My scepticism over their future has never really been in doubt.
So this latest story just about made me inhale a full cup of tea when I saw it!
Many, many, many, many, many… you get the idea… years ago, I saw a documentary where they had “transmitted” electricity a few metres across an office to light a bulb. The presenter even stood in the middle to show how safe it was. One thing he didn’t go into detail about, as far as I remember, is how inefficient this was. You might consume 100 watts of power on the transmitter side, but far less than that made it across the void to be used by whatever it was you were powering.
In a nutshell, it is extremely wasteful – and quite franky, no amount of technological advancement can make this kind of thing as efficient as powering directly from the source.
Now, when you bear in mind that the same thing (overall inefficiency) already applies to electric cars – instead of generating the power on-board (as in an engine), you have to burn some fossil fuel, convert it to electricity, store it, then transport it, all at additional energy cost – it has to be the most bizarre idea imaginable that anyone should propose that induction coils be installed in the road so that these ridiculous devices can be charged up at the same time they are driving around (or parked).
The whole ethic of the electric car shouts GREEN. Induction loops shout HYPOCRISY.