What are the limitations to inductive charging? Why can’t we charge mobile computers or even electric vehicles like this?
In: Physics
As the others have said, the only real advantage of inductive charging is its ability to deliver power across non-conductive barriers – whether that is a rubber and composite enclosure or a conductive lead hanging in the air. There are fairly few use cases where that capability justifies the lower efficiency and potential safety implications of inductive charging.
The ideal use case would be an electric toothbrush – damp environment with high risk of contamination (toothpaste), low power, free choice of materials, plenty of time to charge between uses, and you can design whatever sort of cheap, custom dock you want. Any other solution requires compromising the seal on the toothbrush or leaving exposed contacts somewhere on the body. Makes best use of the strengths of inductive charging while being affected by none of its weaknesses.
A mobile computer – laptop, tablet, or phone – is on the other end of the spectrum. Devices aren’t generally kept in wet or dirty environments, they require middling to substantial power, their materials are limited by certain market expectations and structural needs, fast charging is preferred, and on almost every occasion they would be charging, they could just as easily be plugged in.
An electric bicycle might be a use case as well. Consider a elementary school or a college where you have a small fleet of electric bicycles available to the student body. You might have a battery sealed into the frame, and a special plastic pylon onto which an inductive charger can clamp in a specific configuration and orientation. This allows even incompetent or careless users to charge the bikes simply by returning them to a rack, without having to deal with mangled/contaminated/jammed up charging ports or potentially exposing the contacts searching fingers.
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