Tesla has confirmed that its upcoming wireless charging intended for the Robotaxi is “well above 90%” efficient. While wireless charging for smartphones tends to be about 70-75% efficient in general, a lot of the inefficiency comes from heat and alignment issues.
Tesla appears to have tackled both of these key problems to make wireless charging efficient enough for electric vehicles. Let’s take a look at how, but before we do that, let’s take a look at SAE J2954, the wireless EV charging standard from nearly half a decade ago.
SAE J2954
SAE’s wireless charging standard was created in October 2020. Engineers from SAE and car manufacturers collaborated to build a standard that would work across all EVs. In the end, they figured out a grid-to-battery efficiency of up to 94%. The NACS connector itself is only slightly more efficient—98.55% or so, depending on the temperature of the connector, the cable, the battery pack, and the transformer. That sets a benchmark for what Tesla aims to meet with its wireless charging standard.
What were their key challenges for efficiency? Heat and alignment.
Autopark for Wireless Chargers
Tesla’s Autopark will receive special support for its wireless chargers. Autopark will automatically locate the wireless charging pad and park the vehicle in the best spot for the charging session to begin. As long as the vehicle can accurately place itself over the wireless charger, this solves one of the key issues with wireless charging. It’s not clear whether Tesla is building in any other technology to help the charger find its optimal position. In theory, magnets, like the newer Qi2 standard or Apple’s MagSafe, can help the charger lock in millimeter-perfect positioning.
Having the vehicle locate and park itself over the charger will be far easier than humans trying to accomplish the same feat without software assistance.
Heat Management
A major problem with cell phones and wireless charging is that most do not have active heat dissipation. Instead, they dissipate heat passively into the atmosphere around them. This is especially true due to the small surface area of a cell phone.
In a car, you can transfer heat efficiently to outside the vehicle or into the vehicle’s cabin if it needs heat - the heat pumps on a Tesla are 200-300% efficient at most temperatures. Conversely, on cell phones, battery heat must be limited due to the critical and heat-sensitive components (screen, chips, cameras, sensors) that are all tightly packed into the phone’s battery.
Due to Tesla’s BMS (battery management system), Tesla can keep the vehicle’s batteries and surrounding components in a much more ideal range than cell phones. The system will not only cool down batteries, but also warm them up to produce efficiency and faster charging.
The final trick under the charge mat is beam steering. In a recent patent, Tesla explained that they intend to steer the beam of wireless energy by altering the induced current across the wireless charging pad’s coils. This will allow them to solve both the alignment and heat issues.
The alignment's precision can be achieved by steering the beam into the optimal position, while it dynamically adjusts between 'cool zones' on the receiving vehicle to prevent overheating—ensuring a steady and efficient rate of charging.
Tesla has thought out the wireless charging problem pretty deeply ever since they bought out Wiferion, and this achievement has been years in the making. We’re hoping they’ll eventually bring wireless charging compatibility to the rest of the lineup. The Cybertruck itself already has the connector prongs to be retrofitted with a wireless charging adapter, and with the Model Y Juniper Refresh around the corner, what better way to prove wireless EV charging works than to include it in the world’s best-selling car?
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Tesla recently showed off Giga Small Haus, an interesting new display project hosted at Giga Berlin. The small new house is located just outside the main entrance of Tesla’s Giga Berlin factory, with a Quicksilver Model Y parked inside.
Giga Small Haus is powered only by solar and Powerwall 3 - disconnected from the local grid and from Giga Berlin itself. It serves as a live demonstration of Tesla Solar and Tesla’s Powerwall battery backup.
Giga Small Haus
The centerpiece of the display is a Model Y in Quicksilver - a beautiful pick for a beautifully lit house. However, that’s not the real focus here - it's the Powerwall and Gateway on the wall.
The Powerwall is the focus of Giga Small Haus, and there’s a display with some additional information on the wall. Part of the display also includes a screen that displays the current output of the Powerwall itself versus the consumption of Giga Small Haus, as well as the input from solar.
The interior exhibit of Giga Small Haus
Not a Tesla App
The text on the exhibit is divided into several sections. Here’s a translated and edited version of what we can see from Tesla’s images. Some additional text is obscured. If someone visits Giga Small Haus, let us know.
Powerwall
Powerwall is a home battery system that stores energy from solar panels, the electrical grid, or during off-peak hours and powers your home during the day or during a power outage.
With Powerwall, you can use self-generated solar energy during the day and night, thus avoiding high electricity costs. You can also store excess energy produced during sunny periods for use during times of low production or power outages.
Key Features
Energy Storage: Powerwall stores excess energy from solar panels or the grid for later use or during power outages.
Backup Power: In the event of a power outage, Powerwall automatically switches to battery power to ensure continuous power supply.
Integration: Powerwall can be seamlessly integrated with existing solar systems and other power sources.
Scalability: Multiple Powerwalls can be installed to meet higher energy storage needs.
Smart Energy Management: Powerwall works with Tesla's software to optimize energy consumption and reduce costs.
How Powerwall Works
Storage: During the day, when solar panels produce more energy than needed, the excess is stored in Powerwall.
Usage: At night or during times of low solar production, the stored energy is used to power the home, reducing reliance on the grid.
Backup: During a power outage, Powerwall automatically provides power to critical circuits, ensuring continuous operation of essential appliances.
Benefits
Cost Savings: By storing and using solar energy, you can reduce your electricity bills.
Reliability: Provides backup power during outages, ensuring your home remains powered.
Sustainability: Promotes the use of renewable energy by storing excess solar production for later use.
Overall, Giga Small Haus is an interesting real-life demo of what Powerwall and Solar can accomplish. It would be neat if Tesla built more of these displays - perhaps near major Delivery and Service Centers and at Giga Texas, Fremont, Giga Shanghai, and other facilities. Many Tesla owners have yet to learn about and experience some of Tesla’s Energy products.
Tesla has added the Acceleration Boost option to the Tesla store for owners of the 2024 Model 3 Long Range - specifically owners in Australia and China. Acceleration Boost is an upgrade that provides a significant performance boost, drastically narrowing the performance gap between the Long Range and Performance versions of the same model.
This upgrade will likely become available in Europe, Canada, and the United States in the next few days as Tesla updates its shops globally.
Acceleration Boost
This new Acceleration Boost is retailing for $3,000 AUD, or approximately $2,000 USD. That’s the same price for current owners of older Model 3 or Model Y Long Range vehicles, which all have the option to purchase Acceleration Boost through the shop.
The boost provides improved 0-100km/h (0-60mph) performance, bumping the 2024 Model 3 LR from 4.4s to 3.8s. The 2024 Performance version comes in at a blazing fast 2.9 seconds, so while it isn’t equivalent to just buying a performance variant in the first place, it is still a noticeable and significant upgrade.
Performance variants also come with a different front fascia vent for cooling, performance drive units, sport seats, adaptive suspension, 20-inch wheels, and Track Mode V3. That’s a significant number of additional features in the $10,000 USD price difference between the Long Range and Performance versions.
Should You Buy It?
If you’ve purchased a Long Range model and are itching to go just that little bit faster at every red light, this is the upgrade for you. It previously came with the cost of slightly reducing vehicle range, but the Tesla store doesn’t make a note of reduced range this time around. The 2023 Model 3 and Model Y Long Range models had an efficiency loss of about 5% due to the additional always-available acceleration and cooling.
You could drive in Chill mode to mostly negate that efficiency loss, but what’s the fun in driving in Chill when you just got Acceleration Boost? Anyhow, the shop listing for the 2024 variant doesn’t include this detail, so it's possible Tesla may have worked some more engineering magic.
Overall, if you’ve got the $3,000 AUD burning a hole in your pocket, some Tesla referral credits sitting around, or just want to go faster, it's definitely an upgrade many users find valuable.
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