Bookmark and Share
managed service provider virginia pronets in galax, virginia va   managed service provider virginia pronets in galax, virginia va
managed service provider virginia pronets in galax, virginia va
 
 
 
managed service provider virginia pronets in galax, virginia va   managed service provider virginia pronets in galax, virginia va
 
Search
Case Studies
Client Testimonials
Blog
FAQ's
News
Newsletter Signup
Newsletter Archives
Network Health Checkup
Checklist for Health Checkup
Choosing an IT Company
 
  managed service provider virginia pronets in galax, virginia va  
 
 
   

News
 
Google Testing Out Evatran's Wireless Electric Car Charger Print E-mail
Thursday, 31 March 2011 11:57

 

Google sure likes to incubate next-gen electric car tech. The search engine giant’s latest project was announced Monday morning and Google says it has installed a wireless electric car charger, developed by a company called Evatran, to charge up plug-in cars on its Mountain View, Calif. campus. The installation is the first public trial of Evatran’s wireless charging tech, which Evatran unveiled last Summer.


Evatran’s “Plugless Power” electric vehicle charger uses “proximity charging” technology to charge up electric vehicles. The Plugless Power unit works via the combination of a parking block installed on a garage floor or parking lot, a connected tower that detects if the car is charging (and also has a cord option), and finally a unit installed underneath the bottom of the car itself. The parking block and the device installed under the car wirelessly connect when the car drives over the block, and the battery starts charging.


Proximity charging like Evatran’s use magnetic induction, where two magnetic coils — one inside a charging pad and one inside a device — connect to allow a charge while the device is sitting on the pad (here’s
10 Things to Know About Wireless Charging). Cell phones, gadgets and laptops have been the focus of much of the innovation behind this technology, but increasingly automakers and plug-in vehicle charging companies have been working on the tech.


Nissan told the
UK Guardian a couple years ago that it has already worked wireless charging into the design for its all-electric vehicle, with the goal to ultimately make charging quicker and easier than it is with today’s cords and plugs. Evatran says it has had interest from several major automakers.


The lack of efficiency of the power transfer has been the big road block for magnetic induction. As Stacey on GigaOM recently pointed out, efficiency rates commonly range from 50-70 percent using magnetic induction, and can transfer 5 watts of power, according to Menno Treffers, chairman of the Wireless Power Consortium.


An Evatran spokesperson told me last year that the company’s proximity charging uses an enhanced version of magnetic induction that makes the charging very efficient. Currently the prototypes are getting just under 80 percent efficiency says Evatran, but the company says it will only bring a product to market with 90 percent efficiency.


Wytheville, Virginia-based Evatran is a spinoff from MTC Transformers a company founded in 1985 that makes specialized electrical transformers for niche markets. Evatran was started in April 2009 and was spun out of MTC. Evatran also told me last year that the Plugless Power devices would cost around $3,800 and would go on sale April 2011.


One of the big hurdles for the technology is that without any automakers signed on yet, users have to have their cars retrofitted with the charging device. Google has retrofitted one of its cars to test out the wireless charger on its campus. That’s a significant cost in the early days for the startup.


In a few years down the road, the plug-free electric vehicle charging industry could become substantial and wireless charging is already starting to become more mainstream for gadgets. Global shipments of gadgets capable of proximity charging are estimated to jump nearly 70 times by 2014 from the 3.5 million units expected to sell this year,
according to research firm iSuppli. More than 234 million such consumer devices with wireless charging are expected to be shipped over the next four years, including cell phones, media players, digital cameras and small computers, with initial adoption coming from cell phones.


Google has a significant plug-in car program for a company that doesn’t have a core business in autos. Google.org — Google’s philanthropic arm — has its
RechargeIT program, that collects data from plug-in cars and connected vehicles on Google’s campus. Google Ventures — Google’s VC arm — has also invested in neighborhood car sharing company RelayRides, Next Auto Networks, a company that’s working on efficient vehicles, and biofuel company CoolPlanetBiofuels.


Images courtesy of Evatran and Google.


Story courtesy of
www.gigaom.com

 
 
FREE Seminar on Database Management Print E-mail
Tuesday, 29 March 2011 09:26

Are You Getting the Right Message to the Right People? - FREE Seminar on Database Management!


On March 29th, PRONETS is presenting at a FREE seminar that Wordsprint is hosting which will include several industry experts on the topic of Database Management.

 

Among the topics covered by PRONETS, a free download was supplied for a very helpful report about Data Backup called “What Every Business Owner Must Know About Protecting & Preserving Their Company's Critical Data and Computer Systems". You can download the report by clicking here.

Think Your Tape Drive is a Smart Way To Back Up Your Data? You Won't After Reading This Report... 12 Little- Known Facts & Insider Secrets Every Business Owner Should Know About Backing Up Their Data & Choosing a Remote Backup Service.

The seminar was held at the Wytheville Meeting Center:


1-81/77 Exit 73
or I-77 Exit 41
333 Community Boulevard
Wytheville, VA 24382
Meeting Center Phone (Toll-free): 866-694-8287


Here are a few photos taken during the Wordsprint Seminar:

Brent Dicker (Navigator Solutions) Brent and Bill Gilmer(Wordsprint) Brent Dicker and Bill Gilmer


Here is a copy of the presentation that PRONETS made at the seminar:

Data Backup

Data Backup - Handout for presentation

 
«StartPrev1112NextEnd»

Page 11 of 12


About Pronets | Contact Us | Services | Client Support Center | Sitemap | Home | Email AUP

© 1998 - 2024 Professional Networks, Inc. (Pronets) • 307 Meadow Street • PO Box 389 • Galax, Virginia (VA) 24333
Email Address: info@pronetsinc.comPhone: 276-236-8226 • Fax: 276-236-7446
Website Designed and Hosted by Professional Networks, Inc.