Post by fka GmbH

Celebrating 45 Years of fka - Milestones in Engineering 🌐🚗 Today's throwback: unplugged project While EVs are rapidly rising in popularity today, the landscape looked very different a decade ago. Limited range, high costs and a small charging network were massive setbacks for consumer acceptance. As part of our 45th anniversary, we look back at the "unplugged" project, funded by the European Union, where fka took on the challenge of transforming the EV charging experience. Our goal? To investigate and demonstrate inductive charging as a flexible, seamless solution for urban environments. By integrating smart wireless charging infrastructure, we aimed to make charging as simple as parking your car, increasing user comfort without even needing to plug in a cable. Our core contributions: 🔹System architecture & integration: Development of novel vehicle-side architectures for seamless integration of inductive charging systems. 🔹Interoperability & standardization: Compatibility between different vehicles with different charging infrastructures. 🔹Economic efficiency & usability: Investigation of the acceptance and feasibility of fast charging systems in public space. 🔹Safety & field testing: Evaluation of electromagnetic compatibility and execution of real-world tests with prototypes to validate the reliability of the overall system. As fka isn’t satisfied with pen and paper work, our attitude is to bring innovations to life: The seamless charging experience was successfully demonstrated in the vehicle as you can see in our throw-back picture. 🔋The future of inductive charging In the future, dynamic en-route charging could enable EVs to charge seamlessly while in motion on specially adapted road pathways. But even today, it's clear how this investigation carried out by fka was far ahead of its time: last year, Porsche showcased for the first time their prototype of an inductive wireless charging floor plate designed for household installation. While it is a different application, it proves that the industry is moving toward the exact same goal fka envisioned years ago: making EV charging a user-friendly and effortless experience. As we celebrate 45 years of driving innovation, fka continues to support the electrification of mobility, not only by researching new charging concepts, but also through advanced testing and thermal effect simulations. Do you need support in the development or testing of your next electrical vehicle? Get in touch with our team today! #Throwback #Sustainability #UrbanMobility #Innovation #EVs #ElectricVehicle #FutureMobility