Toyota City, Japan, February 13, 2014—Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces that it will begin verification testing of its newly developed wireless battery charging system for vehicles with an electrified powertrain, such as plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, in late February in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The system can charge a vehicle parked in alignment over a coil on the surface of the ground, making the charging process simpler and more convenient.

The charging system uses magnetic-resonance technology, which transmits electricity by utilizing the magnetic resonance resulting from changes in magnetic field intensity between a coil on the ground that transmits and a coil on the vehicle that receives.

Toyota has even developed a new parking assist function that shows the position of the transmitting coil in the parking space; coupled with Toyota’s Intelligent Parking Assist* system.

The test involves three plug-in hybrid vehicles in use in homes in Aichi Prefecture for one year.

The tests will assess:
user satisfaction
system ease-of-use
misalignment rates
and charging behavior, such as charging frequency.

Source: Toyota Motor Corporation