Objective
UNPLUGGED project aims to investigate how the use of inductive charging of Electric Vehicles (EV) in urban environments improves the convenience and sustainability of car-based mobility. In particular, it will be investigated how smart inductive charging infrastructure can facilitate full EV integration in the urban road systems while improving customer acceptance and perceived practicality. UNPLUGGED will achieve these goals by examining in detail the technical feasibility, practical issues, interoperability, user perception and socio-economic impacts of inductive charging. As one special variant, inductive en-route charging will be investigated thoroughly.
As part of the project, two smart inductive charging systems will be built, taking into consideration requirements from OEMs, energy utilities and end users. The systems will be innovative and will go beyond the current state of the art in terms of high power transfer, allowing for smart communication between the vehicle and the grid, as well as being in line with the latest inductive charging standards and considering interoperability. These innovative inductive charging systems designed and built as part of the project will then be tested and assessed in order to understand their potential impacts on urban mobility and the acceptance of e-mobility. Application in an en-route charging scenario in particular will be examined for different vehicle types, ranging from cars to buses.
It is anticipated that UNPLUGGED will provide clear evidence on and demonstrate whether the use of smart inductive charging infrastructure can overcome some of the perceived barriers for e-mobility, such as range and size of on-board energy storage, and practical difficulties associated with installing traditional charging post infrastructure.
UNPLUGGED will also include a feasibility study and economic model for dynamic en-route inductive charging. This technology is currently less mature than static en-route charging, however, it ha
Fields of science
Call for proposal
FP7-SST-2012-RTD-1
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Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
52074 Aachen
Germany
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Participants (16)
08740 Sant Andreu De La Barca
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10043 Orbassano
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50121 Florence
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405 08 Goteborg
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30165 Hannover
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59557 Lippstadt
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1050 Bruxelles / Brussel
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43710 Santa Oliva
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RG40 3GA Wokingham
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75015 PARIS 15
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28042 Madrid
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00198 Roma
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50018 Zaragoza
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10129 Torino
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SW1H 0TL London
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GU14 6YU Farnborough
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