Wireless Car Charging for HEVO’s Transport Evolution
HEVO has developed and tested a new wireless charging mat for electric vehicles despite stiff competition from larger competitors.
Brooklyn based company, HEVO, has developed a wireless charging pad for electric cars. The company, whose vision “is built on creating the global wireless charging standard for electric vehicles (EV) that provides users with the charging experience they are demanding,” finalised the product in May.
The company has developed this product with limited funding and staff, with CEO Jeremy McCool showcasing the product from his mother’s garage via Zoom. Their new ground-mounted pad beams electricity up to a car-mounted receiver which wirelessly charges the vehicle. The new charging pad is about to enter low-volume production at the Flex contract manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.
It is through small investments from family and friends, along with government grants (most significant being the $50,000 from Veterans Affairs), McCool was able to launch HEVO. Now a successful company, HEVO want to “lead the transport evolution” which will “protect the environment and security interests of future generations”. The finalisation of this new product makes HEVO a key player in the wireless car charging market.
HEVO ready to turn EV charging wireless
During his Zoom demonstration, McCool demonstrated HEVO’s new charging pad with the assistance of their app. Not only does the app direct the user to the pad, but it also tracks how much power is beaming up and how much it will cost.
HEVO’s new product has a tower that draws power from the home and incorporates a utility-grade meter and an optional Level 2 charger. The technology has proved its worth in quality tests for fire flame, chemical and environmental safety according to McCool.
More safety features such as “foreign object detection” has been installed. The first type of this pad produced by HEVO delivers 8 kilowatts maximum charge, which works out as 20-24 miles of charge per hour.
The new pad has been through pilot testing in three continents with major automakers, utilities and EV charging companies. HEVO is now ready to ship their product and change the way people charge their electric vehicles.
Advantages of hands-free
The electric vehicle industry is expecting a wave of EV adoption in the upcoming years and wireless charging holds many advantages over the wired systems which are in place now.
Visually, the car charging pads, like this new innovative design by HEVO, are seamless to install compared to the wired systems currently available, with no need for intrusive cabling and plugs. Furthermore, with these advances in the wireless electric vehicle market, technology could go into roadways to top up cars on the go rather than having to stop to charge up.
One particular advantage of wireless charging is that drivers don’t need to leave their cars to charge up. Addressing this advantage and the current coronavirus, McCool stated: “right now, who the heck wants to touch anything?” again demonstrating the clear advantages of this new, hands-free technology.
Andrew Johnston, a market advocate on consulting firm Guidehouse’s mobility solutions team, stated: “This may sound silly, but you’d be surprised at how many people in public [crash] into chargers. When it’s a pad, you can drive over it a million times — it’s designed to be driven on”. So not only does the charging pad have hands-free convenience, but its durability sets itself apart from its wired counterpart.
“Persistence and resilience” is the way to success
Companies in the electric vehicle and charging market are all looking at the prospects of developing wireless charging or upgrading the wireless systems they have in place. HEVO in comparison to a lot of their competitors are a lot smaller but are determined to be part of the transport evolution.
McCool has stated about the HEVO’s drive for success: “it’s really about persistence and resilience. We’re going to continue to pursue our mission and our vision, even with the fact that there are other companies that have more money than us.”
Despite the fact they are a smaller company, HEVO have been identified as a key player in a Wireless EV charging market analysis. It is clear that this smaller company are keeping up with larger companies in their mission to “lead the transport revolution”.