Can anybody elaborate as to what is the current efficiency ratio of inductive electric charging? Last time I checked it was too low, which made the whole concept unpractical.

There are claims of efficiency from 80-90% and while this is a waste it\'s not terribly different to injudicious car choice or use. http://www.green.autoblog.com/2011/12/04/future-nissan-leaf-could-be-cheaper-may-have-more-range-wil/ I think EV\'s are unlikely to reduce running costs or save the world from CO2 but shouldnt be discounted for other benefits such as noise reduction, less maintenance and reduced oil reliance.

How large of a solar canopy or rooftop would be needed to charge an inductively charged battery?

why not make it contact inductive charging like my Palm Pre and HP tablet touchstone chargers that center magnetically they work tits

inductive charging while driving will only work if a 2nd battery is added to the car. mark my words.

All this bullshit - just to fit \"The Image\" that your lazy arse worthless world will somehow improve if you have to do even less.
\"Oh plug the car in? What a trauma! Can\'t go through with it - Can\'t cope - Too hard - the manufacturers said so\".
Since owning and riding a horse for my daily needs is impractical...
The more crap I read the more I lose my mind - Aka Terry Gilliam\'s \"Brazil\".
The wonderful theme song... Dissolution of reality....
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/

Wow Mr Stiffy Sounds like an interesting movie, but all that from the news that someone is working on an inductive charger for vehicles we dont even have yet? I dont know where youre coming from but if you are suggesting that people could walk or ride a bike more then I totally agree.

The problem with electricity is that until we move the conversion off-planet, solar conversion ratios are too small, and generation by every other means has unknown environmental effects.
Only orbital conversion reduces the side effects of production and use to the distribution of heat as entropy proceeds (and it's possible to use that heat for purposes as diverse as building HVAC to regeneration of electricity.)
Electricity is clean, but electrical generation using current methods is not...provided you look at cradle-to-grave environmental costs.
Until you move the construction and operation of electrical generation systems off-planet, you are faced with major environmental issues--many of which have yet to be considered by 'green' energy designers.
We've been able to do this for 40 years, and the only reason that orbital generation has not been cost-effective compared with conventional generation is that no conventional generation system actually pays all of the costs associated with manufacturing or operation of the generation plants.
Coal & nuclear plants don't pay most of the environmental costs of fuel production and waste disposal. Wind/solar/tidal/wave/hydrological-gravitational systems don't pay the true costs of their manufacture & operation--in some cases, (wind/tidal/wave) those costs are not only unknown for large scale systems, but largely ignored by designers.

There are two elephants in this room, efficiency and cost. Why use a simple standardized \"plug\" when you can use massive , inefficient and costly inductors? Beats me! Dig up all of the parking lots in the world and embed this stuff, great if you own copper stocks in your investment portfolio, poor if you have to pay for this unnecessary technology.
Dass iss all folks!

grtbluyonder is absolutely right. Cost and efficiency. But why would anyone get their knickers in a knot over a system being trialled not in parking lots but in a solar powered home. According to the article it also has a cord and I imagine just like EV\'s themselves that no one will be forced to buy an inductive charger. I cant be too sure about that since most cars dont come with crank handles anymore. But if the cost any efficency is right for some people then what is the problem.