The expansion on the use of Electric Vehicles demands new mechanisms to ease the charging process, making it autonomous and with a reduced user intervention. This paper reviews the technologies applied to the wireless charge of Electric Vehicles. In particular, it focuses on the technologies based on the induction principle, the capacitive-based techniques, those that use radiofrequency waves and the laser powering. As described, the convenience of each technique depends on the requirements imposed on the wireless power transfer. Specifically, we can state that the power level, the distance between the power source and the electric vehicle or whether the transfer is executed with the vehicle on the move or not or the cost are critical parameters that need to be taken into account to decide which technology to use. In addition, each technique requires some complementary electronics. This paper reviews the main components that are incorporated into these systems and it provides a review of their most relevant configurations.

Inductive power transfer (IPT) for electric vehicles (EVs) is an emerging technology that can transfer power wirelessly over certain distances, thus offering some remarkable characteristics in terms of flexibility, position, and movability. The output power of an IPT system depends on the coupling factor of the magnetic couplers, which can deviate from the nominal operating conditions due to the occurrence of misalignment. Nevertheless, misalignment of the magnetic couplers in inductive charging is inevitable, and it usually results in the variation of the mutual inductance and output power of the system with a corresponding decrease in the system’s overall efficiency. So far, the literature has reported various techniques for achieving designs with higher misalignment tolerance. The reported techniques can be mainly classified into three categories, as viewed from the following aspects: magnetic couplers layouts, compensation networks, and control strategy. Each of these techniques has its pros and cons in terms of implementation cost, system layout, efficiency, power density, and reliability depending on the application. With the increased investigation of more applications of IPT, new modified techniques for improving the misalignment tolerance in the IPT system are continuously being proposed based on permutations and combinations of the existing ones; thus causing some confusion and difficulties for researchers and system vendors to follow. This article, therefore, aims to provide a comprehensive review of the existing methods for IPT systems that address the misalignment issue in EVs’ wireless charging. The background of the inductive charging systems for EVs is presented and an investigation of the numerous factors affecting the output power and other performances is conducted. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of each technique on the IPT system’s performance are analyzed in detail.

The automotive industry is undergoing a transition toward cleaner and more efficient technologies. Electric vehicles (EVs) play a relevant role in this scenario. However, these vehicles continue to suffer from limitations in terms of autonomy and charging times, which can be alleviated with wireless charging technology. This technology facilitates the charging process but has a lower efficiency when compared with conductive chargers. This effect is particularly severe under misalignment conditions and with the usual variations of the battery's electrical features. In order to avoid this disadvantage, this article presents a predictive control algorithm focused on maximizing the charging efficiency. As a novelty, the algorithm sets three configuration parameters in the power converters of the system. The main advantage lies in the fact that it does not need constant monitoring and offers very low response times. This control also improves compatibility with different automobile manufacturers, adding the capacity to work with receivers and batteries with diverse characteristics while complying with international standards. The validity of the proposal is verified by theoretical analysis, simulations, and the experimental results of a 2-kW prototype. The results show the feasibility of the proposed control and the improvement in the efficiency of the system.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining more and more user acceptances due to their clean, efficient, and environmentally friendly nature. Currently, most commercial EVs use conductive charging for their batteries. Inductive charging, which is an alternative charging technology, has recently received a great deal of attention because of its increased user convenience and safety. It is forecast that the two charging technologies will be implemented in future charging infrastructures globally. Consequently, future EVs need to be capable of dealing with both charging methods. So far, there have only been a very few charging topologies reported in the literature that describe both charging methods in the same vehicle. However, solutions that have been proposed do not show a significant component reduction. In this article, we propose a hybrid charger system where the high-frequency transformer of an onboard dc-dc converter becomes the coupling point between the conductive and inductive charging. Using this coupling point, the circuit utilizes the same components for conductive and for inductive charging. This results in the reduction of component count and, therefore, an improved integration. The proposed system is verified by both simulation and experiment. For the experiment, a 3-kW prototype has been built and tested. The maximum efficiency of 97.4% and 93.6% was achieved in the conductive and inductive mode, respectively.

The problem of sizing an electrochemical energy storage system for renewable energy integration is a complex task. There are several system input parameters that must be taken into account for a correct design. Among them, the ageing characteristic of the technology, the service that the system provides, i.e. the power profile that the system faces and the desired C‐rate are considered. A simple solution for this problem is not available in the literature. This study presents a simple yet robust optimisation‐based model for renewable energy integration. The model explicitly takes into account the intrinsic battery ageing process. The authors propose a formulation for the optimisation problem that can be written in terms of just one continuous variable, namely, the amount of energy that the battery is able to store (battery size); using the proposed procedure, solving the problem obtained is a relatively straightforward task. Results are first discussed using an illustrative example and later extended to two real case studies.