Volvo Cars are integrating and testing a novel wireless charging system in a real-world metropolitan context with chosen partners, assessing its potential for future electric vehicles.

Over a three-year period, a small fleet of completely electric Volvo XC40 Recharge cars will be employed as taxis by Cab Online, the Nordic region’s largest taxi operator, and wirelessly charged at stations in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The wireless charging test is one of several projects detailed in the Gothenburg Green City Zone strategic plan, which uses specified regions of the city as living testbeds for the development of sustainable technology.

“The Gothenburg Green City Zone allows us to test intriguing new technologies in a real-world setting and assess them overtime for a potential future larger introduction,” said Mats Moberg, Volvo Cars’ head of Research and Development. “Testing new charging methods with carefully selected partners is an excellent approach to evaluate alternative charging choices for our future automobiles.”

Momentum Dynamics, a prominent producer of wireless electric charging solutions, provided the charging stations utilized in the test. When a compatible vehicle parks over a charging pad buried in the roadway, charging begins automatically, allowing drivers to charge without getting out of their vehicle.

The charging station transmits energy via the charging pad, which is detected by a receiver device in the automobile. Volvo Cars will utilize its 360-degree video system to easily line the car with the charging station. The wireless charging power for the fully electric XC40 Recharge cars will be more than 40 kW, making charging speeds four times faster than a wired 11 kW AC charger and nearly as fast as a wired 50 kW DC fast charger.

The Volvo vehicles will be driven for more than 12 hours per day and 100,000 kilometers per year in total, making this the first durability test of completely electric Volvo automobiles in a commercial usage situation.

Other partners in the wireless charging project include Volvo Bil and Volvo Car Sörred, the Swedish energy company Vattenfall and its charging network InCharge, the city energy company Göteborg Energi, and Business Region Gothenburg, a municipal economic development agency owned by the City of Gothenburg.

Volvo Cars participated in the introduction of the Gothenburg Green City Zone project last year, which seeks to achieve emission-free transportation by 2030. By using a real city as a testing ground, the firm will be able to speed the development of technology and services in the areas of electrification, shared mobility, autonomous driving, connectivity, and safety.