You'll never have to plug your Porsche EV in ever again

Good news, dear Porsche EV-driver! In the near future you'll never have to untangle that pesky charging cable again. In fact, you could just throw it in the trash all together. Your electric German sports SUV will charge like magic through the air.

Some very smart people in Stuttgart seem to have made a not so innovative idea (BMW introduced the same thing back in 2020) work well enough to ask people to pay €7000 for it. They've taken the wireless charging technology you have in your phone and scaled it up so it can be used on electric Porsches.

To be very clear: Porsche is selling a charging pad (for € 5000) and an optional receiver for in the car (for €2000) which, when combined, will charge the car at up to 11 kW/h. Which is kinda not bad, when you think about it. It's a decent charging speed and all you have to do is drive up, park, get out of the car and into the house.

It might seem like a solution to a minor problem that might not even be a problem to begin with. But I think Porsche might be on to something here. Especially a brand like this can benefit enormously when it eliminates small, daily annoyances, like having to plug in a car. For the driver, it changes the whole dynamic of interacting with a car. It becomes just a little bit more magic when you get into an already magnificent car like a Porsche and you don't even have to think about charging on a daily basis. It's always full without you even doing anything for it (except paying € 7000 for the optional kit and buying the new Cayenne, which will be the only car available on which wireless charging will work).

Granted, the one time payment of several thousands is not all you need. You'll have to have a private parking space with an electrical outlet to which the pad can be connected, but when you're able to afford a brand spanking new Porsche EV, you probably at least have a garage or a small driveway. So that is a minor issue. The larger issue is that you'll still have to get your hands on dirty chargers when taking longer trips.

As you probably know induction charging has many technical flaws. For example: charging quickly makes the parts needed for the wireless charging heat up, and heat is unwanted in most implementations. Porsche tackled this with extra liquid cooling, which adds weight, which sucks in a Porsche. But let's be fair, most Porsche owners could stand to lose the 15 kilograms the induction charging unit weighs themselves. Let's see it as added motivation to go to the gym some more.

The tech is also inherently inefficient. Porsche claims UP TO 90 percent efficiency. That 'up to' is key, because it means that if you park your car a little crooked over the charging pad, that 90 percent is out the window. Camera's and sensors in the car try to help with good alignment, but it'll be a minor inconvenience for the driver to line stuff up correctly. Also the car lowers itself to the pad to gain more efficiency, which is actually kind of a good idea, but will probably require air suspension, which is an extra and usually expensive option.

Reading all this news gets me excited for wireless charging in EV's. I like the technology and if it works, it probably will be amazing. I would definitely take the option if I would be buying a brand new Cayenne EV. Which I'm not, because I don't have a house with a driveway, which gives an indication to my level of wealth...

But still, something feels off about the whole thing. Even though BMW tried to launch the exact same product half a decade ago, the technology doesn't seem quite ready for cars. 

Take the pad for example. You can't hide it underneath the driveway, because it'll stop working. That means the pad is susceptible to all kinds of outside influences and above all, will look ugly on the driveway or in the garage. It also trades some convenience for other inconveniences. To make the tech perfect, it shouldn't matter how or where I park on my driveway. The car should just charge. 

It's not like this is not already a possibility. You've probably read about the electrified road in Sweden that charges electric trucks that drive over it. Scaling it down to a driveway wouldn't be a problem, surely. It would definitely make more sense at this smaller scale. For one, because stationary vehicles are way easier to charge wirelessly than moving targets, and second: the stationary cars tend to stay stationary for longer times than the moving trucks that leave the road after a few short minutes, in which hardly any charging can be done.

Let's just say it's a step forward. Looking back, nobody was thinking you could fuel up your car at your house. Let alone doing it through the air.

In other news:

I'm going to admit: this news kind of hit me in the nutsack. By that, I mean that it hit me hard and left a stinging feeling for a longer time than usual. Why? Because Mini is never going to release the two MINI JCW x Deus models it's showing off at the IAA this year. This is the kind of thing I like to see. MINI's which are built out to be fun rally cars while somehow still oozing style and surf boards.

On the other hand Audi has been showing that leaked Concept C thingamejig, which is so devoid of personality that I still don't know if I like it or not. Maybe they should hire Deus too? I don't think it's a good thing that I hear people comparing it to the Jaguar Concept...

Speaking of personality: Mercedes is teasing a new G-Class without a roof. Wouldn't that be fun. I for one am not hoping for a V8, even if that is objectively better in a G-Class. I just think it would be even more fun if it could do a Tank Turn, which would make it fully electric. Making people sick without windows is better than having them puking in the car, right?