Wireless Charging

We've been hearing about in-road EV charging tech for a number of years, including tests from Renault and Stellantis. Now the City of Detroit is reported to be the first installation of wireless charging in a public roadway in the US.

Adoption of wireless charging has been fairly slow, but it could pick up if it worked over longer distances. Now Aalto University engineers have developed a new system that can allow more efficient wireless power transmission over longer distances.

Mounting a headlight, smartphone holder and cyclometer on your bike's handlebars can take up a lot of space. The awkwardly named 4-in-1 Multifunctional Bike Stopwatch addresses that problem by combining all three along with a phone charger.

Korean engineers have demonstrated a new system that uses infrared lasers to beam power over distances as far as 100 ft (30 m), which could eventually lead to technology that automatically charges your phone as soon as you walk into a room.

The world's fifth-largest automaker has built and tested a charge-as-you-drive system – a loop of road in Italy with wireless EV charging coils embedded under the surface, so that electric cars can charge as they drive and unlock unlimited range.

Stents can make a life-saving difference for people with vascular problems, as they open up narrowing blood vessels. An experimental new one goes a step further, by actually transmitting blood flow data to an external computer or mobile device.

When a pacemaker's battery gets low, the whole implant typically has to be surgically replaced. Scientists are therefore developing a noninvasive battery recharging system, which utilizes externally applied ultrasound.

Ordinarily, wireless chargers emit an electromagnetic field in just one direction, limiting the number of devices they can charge at once. A new charger, however, produces a donut-shaped field, for the simultaneous charging of multiple gadgets.

Wireless charging systems for electric cars certainly are convenient, as drivers just park the vehicle, get out, and leave it to charge. Well, Dutch company Tiler has created a similar technology for ebikes.

Wireless power transmission has potential, but range is a major hurdle. In a new proof-of-concept, Ericsson and PowerLight Technologies demonstrated a technique called optical beaming, using a laser to transmit power to a portable 5G base station.

Widespread wireless charging could one day keep our devices juiced up indefinitely. A new breakthrough has been made in that direction, as researchers in Japan have developed a system that can turn a whole room into a wireless charger.

Premium audio brand Klipsch is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and is marking the occasion with the launch of a pair of ANC true wireless earphones that tap into Bragi AI to control functionality using head gestures such as nodding.