The rise of wireless charging!

At certain times it feels like we are living life backwards. The way we charge our devices is one of such things. There are multiple devices to be charged with multiple proprietary chargers that come with them. After a few years of digital invasion, we are left with an unholy mess of cords and chargers all tangled up. What if we are doing it the wrong way? What if all you need is a nice little mat which can be used to charge all your devices? And that kind of mat already exists.

Wireless charging as a concept is nothing new. It is more than 100 years old and Nikola Tesla is credited to be the pioneer of it. Fruition of wireless power came in but, adoption of it looked distant. Two significant events at the CES 2011, might change that a wee bit.

First off is the collaboration of Qualcomm with Duracell and Powermat. Qualcomm and Powermat will work towards industry alliance that will develop flexible coupling wireless power solution. A dual-mode receiver which is compatible with Qualcomm’s WiPower technology and Powermat’s charging mats is on the cards. Qualcomm’s Duracell collaboration is on the similar lines to push WiPower as a standard.

Second significant event came from Fulton Innovation. A Tesla roadster is wirelessly charged using a eCoupled-enabled pad. Not much different from the way cellphones are charged using a Powermat. The Tesla car is parked 4-inches over a eCoupled-enabled pad and the electric vehicle is charged up. The charging status can be checked using a smartphone app. This is the first time a car is charged instead of a mobile phone or a toothbrush. Nissan has similar plans for a induction charger.

Just like electric vehicles, the wireless charging for cars needs time to go mainstream. For the rest of the devices the time is now. The mobile industry is still struggling to come up with a universal charger and have agreed upon micro USB. Instead of spinning our wheels with a universal charger, may be we just need to hop on to the wireless charging. Do you feel the same way?

Tesla car getting wirelessly charged

PS : iPad just got an wireless charger from Murata.

[Image from Flickr User : Oleg Malashevich]