BMW Has Confirmed Wireless Car Charging Production For July

BMW is set to be the first major car manufacturer to bring a wireless car-charging system to market. Scheduled for a July production start, the game-changing tech will be available to order in the US, UK, China, Japan and, of course, Germany.

The first model that can use it is the 2018 model-year 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid. The idea is that you place the pad on the ground, in this case at home where you normally park overnight. The pad is hooked up to mains electricity so that when you drive your car over it and park, it begins the recharging process. Ideal.

This inductive charging process is the same as the one that you can use in a number of current-generation cars to charge your smartphone. The same one that you might already use yourself on your desk. A primary coil in the waterproof pad transfers electricity via magnetic field to the secondary coil in the nose of the 530e iPerformance. BMW says the efficiency rate is a decent 85 per cent.

An extra helping hand comes when you’re trying to align the car over the pad. The car and pad communicate and automatically switch the car’s main display screen to show a 360-degree all-around view and alignment lines to work from. Several inches’ worth of misalignment is fine, so there’s no pressure to be too precise.

Charging automatically shuts off when the battery is full, at which point you can simply get back in and go on your way. Now this is how it should be done, and it’s coming within months.

Mercedes-Benz has also announced a wireless charging system but it will come later. We really hope the two brands – and all those who follow – will use a standardised system.