deployed—and in greater numbers.
While there is no difference in charging time between a wireless and plug-in EV charging system, Gilbert acknowledged that today’s plug-in systems are significantly less expensive.
“Wireless is always more expensive than wired,” he said. “It’s always harder to make something go wireless. There’s more technology. There are more components. It’s just harder. Nevertheless, I don’t know that it’s going to be an order of magnitude more expensive than cable [plug-in] systems.”
So how is wireless charging technology supposed to gain inroads in a world of plug-in systems?
“There will be a long period of time where you’ll want to have both,” Gilbert said. “It would get introduced on the high-end cars as an option, where there’s little resistance [to pricing] and people might say I’d rather not handle the cable, I’d rather take a wireless option. You’re going to start seeing it in some enthusiasts who really like the technology. You’re going to see it in niches. We’re already seeing it deployed in buses in Italy. You might well see it deployed in taxis, where it makes a lot of sense where they have to wait and be ready to roll.”
“Then, as those prices come down and the infrastructure starts to get built out, I think you’ll start to see mass adoption.”
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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow
In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here.
Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.
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