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EMPIR project develops guidelines for a new electric vehicle charging technology

Image showing an electric car driving down an empty road

An electric car driving down a road

New guidelines will help electric vehicle manufacturers to assess the safety of wireless inductive charging systems

EMPIR project ‘Metrology for inductive charging of electric vehicles’ (16ENG08, MICEV) is developing novel measurement facilities and methods to accurately assess the efficiency of a new wireless, on-board charging technology for low-carbon electric vehicles. This new technology will be applied to inductive power transfer (IPT) systems for vehicle recharging. The project is additionally working to assess the levels of human exposure to electromagnetic fields resulting from use of the inductive power charging systems - which will importantly allow manufacturers to demonstrate compliance with international health & safety standards.

In addition to its continued technical research, the project consortium is currently taking part in standardisation activities through its Swiss partner, SPEAG. Specifically, the project consortium is collaborating with the ‘IEC TC 106’ Committee under the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) – an organisation that publishes global standards for electrical technologies – to contribute to the focused aims of two standardisation groups. The first of these groups (‘WG 9’) works with ‘Addressing methods for the assessment of wireless power transfer related to human exposures to electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields’, and the second (‘PT 63184’) is working to assess the ‘Human exposure to electric and magnetic fields from wireless power transfer systems’.

NPL has additionally developed a brand-new facility for the traceable calibration of magnetic fields associated with inductive power charging systems – for fields up to 100 mT in strength and 150 kHz in frequency. Alongside this, SPEAG is designing a probe to verify the gradient of high-intensity magnetic fields which can operate in an extended frequency range (from 3 KHz to the MHz range). With these tools, the project is providing the means to accurately monitor human exposure to magnetic fields and to show adherence to the limits set up by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

The project coordinator, Mauro Zucca, says, “The MICEV project is really improving the measurement capabilities in Europe for IPT systems; with a new calibration facility developed at PTB for the measurement of electrical power up to 150 kHz, a new facility for the magnetic field meters at NPL, and a new system for electric and magnetic in-field measurements developed by INRiM. Thanks to the collaboration of CIRCE and Turin Polytechnic partners, we have two facilities available for experimental tests.

“With the theoretical contribution of various universities (Aalto, CNRS, Cassino, Salerno, TU Delft) and with the crucial contribution of INRiM, NPL, RISE and SPEAG, the new guidelines are taking shape, starting from in-depth dosimetric simulations and using real car-bodies. New guidelines will be an important document, not only for future standards, but also for charging systems designers and manufacturers”.

The project results will support safe wireless charging using inductive power transfer technology, prompting growth in the electric vehicle industry and contributing to the EU’s longer-term objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This EMPIR project is co-funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR Participating States.

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