Hong Kong-based wireless power transfer (WPT) technology company, Lectrifi has reportedly told investors it believes that, although wireless charging development continues to gather pace, the long-term viability of the market for electric vehicles will largely depend on the ability of battery installations to hold greater charges for longer periods of time, thus increasing range.
The assertion was apparently made to an informal gathering of the company’s seed and angel investors and, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the reasoning behind it is rooted in the cost of the available alternatives.
“It appears that industry is very excited about the notion that charging infrastructure can be placed in or on roads so that the electric vehicle is constantly being charged while stationary or in motion,” explained the Lectrifi source.
“While the idea has merit, we believe it’s a non-starter simply on account of the cost. Digging up millions of miles of road to install charging plates would costs billions of dollars and it seems to us, that the solution to the problem demands greater effort from the energy storage side of the equation,” he continued.
Currently, very few electric vehicles are capable of traveling great distances on a single charge so they are perceived as urban vehicles with limited range. Lectrifi says that, until the technology develops to the point where a battery can endow a mid-sized sedan with a useful range of more than 1,000 miles on a single charge, electric vehicles may struggle to achieve full market penetration.
