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UNPLUGGED

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Wireless charging for Electic Vehicles

  • Grant Agreement number 314126

Partners
6
Budget
€ 0 M+
Countries
0

30 months

October 2012 to March 2015

The challenge

Today electric vehicles (EV) are having a hard time being accepted by the customer and diffusing in the market. Even though many aspects of EVs seem making them very appealing there are several concerns that people have on this technology:
• Range anxiety: Because of the limited range of EVs caused by the current relatively low capacity of batteries, the freedom of the driver, one of the major reasons to own a vehicle, is limited,
• EVs require a significantly higher initial investment cost than vehicles with common combustion engines due to the high cost of the energy storage (battery),
• The EV batteries need to recharge frequently and hence the driver has to find a suitable recharging stations and has to plan the routes accordingly,
• The charging process itself is very time consuming and hence user-unfriendly.
 

The solution

UNPLUGGED project aims to investigate how the use of inductive charging of Electric Vehicles (EV) in urban environments improves the convenience and sustainability of car-based mobility. In particular, it will be investigated how smart inductive charging infrastructure can facilitate full EV integration in the urban road systems while improving customer acceptance and perceived practicality. UNPLUGGED will achieve these goals by examining in detail the technical feasibility, practical issues, interoperability, user perception and socio-economic impacts of inductive charging. As one special variant, inductive en-route charging will be investigated thoroughly.
Technical objectives:
• Energy transfer speed
• Power transfer efficiency
• Vehicle/Coil positioning
• Magnetic field safety
• Crash safety
• Vehicle integration
• Power grid integration
• Protection
Economic objectives:
• Feasibility
• Placement
• Billing
• Implementation
Social objectives:
• Acceptance
• Behaviour
Interaction/interoperability objectives:
• Communication
• Standardization

Outcomes: Key results

  • Face the challenges of the development of innovative on route inductive charging technologies, allowing EV to meet the growing demand of vehicles with longer distance autonomy and with smaller, cheaper and less weight batteries AT THE SAME TIME. For instance, on route static charging are seen as key to adoption of EV in cities by vehicles having long routes and regular stops: Buses in bus-stops, taxis in taxi ranks, light duty vehicles in loading/unloading areas, service vehicles in service points, as well as general vehicles in traffic lights and other barriers
  • Contribute to stationary and on route inductive charging technologies by improving power transfer speed and efficiency, vehicle/coil positioning, magnetic and crash safety, inductive infrastructure devices protection against weather and vandalism. This objective includes advances in both the vehicle side and the infrastructure/ power grid/ utilities side
  • Provide mechanisms to dramatically increase the interoperability of solutions developed among the different stakeholders participating in Unplugged, having in mind and keeping it open to other initiatives and projects. Communication mechanisms and data exchange will be included, ensuring feasibility of the required infrastructure and power grid operation
  • Provide advances in the economic feasibility of the inductive charging technologies, both stationary and on route, by evaluating vehicle, infrastructure and power grid/utilities needs and TCO, as well as different billing possibilities
  • Lead to better social acceptance of EVs and its required infrastructure by improving and demonstrating progress in users’ safety, comfort, ease of use, less impact in cityscape and better resilience to vandalism, as well as in users’ sense of freedom (one of the main reasons leading users to acquire vehicles)
  • D5.1 UNPLUGGED web portal
  • D5.2 Project Dissemination Plan
  • D5.3 Dissemination material
  • D5.4 Internet Community Presence
  • D5.5 Project Dissemination Plan
  • D5.6 Dissemination Material
  • D6.4 Exploitation Plans
  • D6.5 Exploitation Plans
  • D7.1 Detailed project Plan
  • D7.2 Project Handbook
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Role of Enide

  • Dissemination
  • Exploitation
  • Impact Creation
  • Administrative Coordinator

Services related to the role

  • Marketing and Communication Strategy
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