Parallel to their efforts in reducing the time electric cars need to be recharged, car makers are also looking for more convenient ways of getting the job done. That is why a lot of them are investing in developing wireless charging solutions, and Volvo appears to be the first to gain some proper results.

Volvo has been working on cordless charging for a while, and now they have arrived at what they call Inductive Charging, which uses an electromagnetic field instead of a cord to transfer energy between two objects.

Even a few years ago this idea would be dismissed as witchcraft, but there days it is easily explainable by laws of physics. An induction coil creates an alternating electromagnetic field from a charging base station. A second induction coil in the portable device picks up power from the electromagnetic field and converts it back into an electrical energy that charges the battery.

If, or rather when, they make this technology commercially available, the drivers of electric vehicles will be able to simply park their car over what appears to be a piece of road, but is in fact a conductor, energized to make an electromagnetic field. In their tests with this system, Volvo managed to charge a C30 Electric Car in 2.5 hours.

Eliminating the cable would be a huge leap forward for electric cars. Finding a plug close enough to where you park your EV, especially when you are out on the road and have to borrow electricity, while messing around with unruly wires is truly an ordeal.