A new Stanford technology could one day make it possible for electric cars to recharge themselves as they speed along futuristic highways built to ’refuel’ vehicles wirelessly. (Image credit: Unsplash/Kimi Lee)
A new Stanford technology could one day make it possible for electric cars to recharge themselves as they speed along futuristic highways built to 'refuel' vehicles wirelessly. (Image credit: Unsplash/Kimi Lee) Engineers have demonstrated a practical way to use magnetism to transmit electricity wirelessly to recharge electric cars, robots or even drones. The technology could be scaled up to power electric cars as they drive over highways, robots on factory floors and drones hovering over rooftops. Stanford engineers have taken a big step toward making it practical for electric cars to recharge as they speed along futuristic highways built to "refuel" vehicles wirelessly. Although wireless charging pads already exist for smartphones, they only work if the phone is sitting still. For cars, that would be just as inconvenient as the current practice of plugging them in for an hour or two at charging stations. Three years ago, Stanford electrical engineer Shanhui Fan and Sid Assawaworrarit, a graduate student in his lab, built the first system that could wirelessly recharge objects in motion.
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