Wireless Power Transfer Technologies Applied to Electric Vehicles: A Review

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.