Driving Range of Electric Vehicles Charged by Wireless Power Transfer

Electric vehicles (EVs) are limited by the on-board batteries in terms of driving range and charging duration. In this paper, the driving range of electric vehicles (EVs) charged by wireless power transfer (WPT) systems is investigated. Specifically, a force-based vehicle model is coupled with a simple extended battery model to simulate the impact of wireless charging on the state of charge of the accumulator sub-system. In total, three different scenarios, i.e., urban, highway and combined driving are presented. The trade-off between having a standalone charging option versus combined dynamic and quasi-dynamic wireless charging is outlined and minimum system requirements, such as charging power levels and road coverage, for unlimited range are established. Furthermore, the effect of external factors such as ambient temperature, battery age and wireless transfer efficiency is investigated. It is shown that employing combined charging at medium power levels is sufficient to achieve unlimited range compared to high power requirements for standalone charging. Finally, safety concerns regarding human exposure are addressed with lower charging powers.