Unplugged: inductive charging on the road

Whether your car runs on petrol, LNG, diesel or electricity, using it is a constant cycle of fuel, consume, refuel. You have to keep your eye on the gauge that tells you how full your tank is (or, in electric versions, how your battery is doing) and make sure you’re in range of a petrol station (or charging point) when the indicators edge close to empty. And while most drivers develop a sense for how far they can push the limit and start getting antsy somewhere between a quarter and an eighth of a tank, the issue of range anxiety is still seen as a stumbling block in the development of electric cars.

But what if you never had to worry about recharging? If you never had to consciously take any action to make sure that your car had enough power on board; if you could be certain every time you settled into the driver’s seat that your car had enough energy to take you wherever you wanted to go, and you wouldn’t have to stop on the way?