Endesa has launched the €2.3m (US$2.98m) EU ‘Unplugged’ inductive EV charging consortium project in Barcelona. The Unplugged programme was launched as part of the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (7PM), has a €2.3m budget and is scheduled to run for two and a half years.
Endesa will lead a working group that will build what the project claims will be “the first wireless fast charging station in the world.” The same working group will also develop the systems integration of the recharging station and onboard equipment, together with the Fundacion CIRCE, a Zaragoza-based research centre. Enel will also develop and install a system for the operation and control of the charging station.
Endesa and its parent company ENEL are the only power utilities in the ‘Unplugged’ consortium whose other members are ENIDE Solutions (the project’s coordinator), Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen, Centro Richerche Fiat, the University of Florence, Turin Polytechnic, the Free University of Brussels, Volvo Technology, Continental Automotive, Hella, IDIADA Automotive Technology, the UK’s BAE Systems, TRL and Transport for London, and the Spanish Fundacion CIRCE energy research centre. Contributions have been made by the municipal authorities of cities including Barcelona and Florence.
