BMW Develops Wireless Charging Pad For Their New Hybrid

Wireless charging sure is exciting isn’t it? Not having to worry about your phone being dead because you forgot to plug it in, and instead just laying a charging slab is one of the coolest new features on a smartphone. Well, BMW is doing something just as exciting for their new 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid, a wireless pad that is able to charge your car overnight.

Like you’d expect, the pad works like any wireless charger and you simply drive your car on top of the rather large pad to have it start charging. The car’s display will guide you with gridlines to show you when you’re properly positioned over the pad. BMW even says the 9.4kWh battery in the hybrid can be charged in about 3.5 hours, which about the same rate as plugging it in.

It’s not available yet, and it still needs UL approval to move forward, so it could be a few years until this feature is available on any BMW electric/hybrid models. Despite that, I think as electric cars become much more prevalent, this is going to be an increasingly enticing feature for people taking the plunge into electric cars. The future sure is looking cool, isn’t it?

TheVerge