The East of England is playing a key role in helping London achieve its goal of becoming a zero-emission city with a new electric vehicle charging initiative.

Qualcomm, which has a Cambridge base and Chargemaster in Luton are collaborating with the UK Government, the Mayor of London’s office and Transport for London (TfL) in the first Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) trial for London in what is a UK and industry-leading initiative.

The pre-commercial trial is expected to commence in early 2012 and will involve as many as 50 electric vehicles (EVs). The trial will use Qualcomm wireless inductive power transfer technology that enables high-efficiency power transfer across a large air gap. The driver simply parks the vehicle in the usual way and the system automatically aligns for power transfer, making parking easier and charging hassle free.

The trial, which will be based partially in East London’s Tech City, the cluster currently enjoying strong support from PM David Cameron, is planned to leverage the Tech City entrepreneurial community and encourage companies to innovate around services and applications, in order to enhance the smart EV experience.

David Cameron said: “This wireless charging technology is a giant leap forward for the electric car industry and I am delighted that London businesses will be among the first to benefit from the trial. Creative, high-tech advances such as this are extremely important as we work to rebalance our economy, and the decision to trial this at Tech City shows confidence in the UK as an ideal place for innovation and investment.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “In my quest to deliver cleaner air for the capital, I want London to be the electric car epicenter of Europe. Encouraging a massive uptake in electric driving is key to this vision of becoming a zero-emission city. We are already on this path with Transport for London delivering a citywide charging network, but we need to go further. This trial is an innovative new facet of my plans, with the promise to help drivers go electric with even greater confidence.”

Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development at Qualcomm, commented: “Qualcomm is very pleased to be participating in the London WEVC pre-commercial trial, which builds on the existing trials of electric vehicles sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles in the UK. Wireless charging eradicates the EV plug-in cable and makes charging of electric vehicles simple and easy for drivers.”

Chargemaster plc, the leading European operator of advanced EV charging infrastructure, has also agreed to participate in the WEVC London trial.

Chargemaster has more than 25 years collaborative experience of working within the telematics and vehicle orientated infrastructure industry. It provides a comprehensive range of electric vehicle charging solutions that have been developed to accommodate new technological advances and the growing demands of the electric vehicle industry.

With flexible and practical charging station solutions, Chargemaster has developed a number of strategic partnerships with energy providers, vehicle manufacturers, government agencies, management consultancies, property development companies and leading blue chip companies.

Chargemaster chief executive, David Martell was the founder of the £100 million public company Trafficmaster Plc, managing and growing the firm as CEO for sixteen years. He said: “We are delighted to be part of this exciting wireless EV/PHEV charging program. The London trial will complement our existing electric vehicle infrastructure programs and keep London and the UK at the forefront of electric vehicle charging technology.”

A Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging steering committee with representatives from TfL, the Mayor’s office, and central Government will be set up to oversee the trial. The trial is open to any company, such as vehicle manufacturers, that wishes to participate. Companies should register their interest at www.wevc.com

“This trial is a great example of how vehicle recharging could work in the future. This private sector investment shows how innovative solutions will help ensure electric cars are a real option for motorists,” said Justine Greening, secretary of state for transport. “This project supplements the £30 million Government fund to kick-start installation of recharging points in eight areas across the country.”

On Tuesday (November 8), in the most significant technology transfer deal ever achieved by a New Zealand university, Qualcomm acquired exclusive rights in and to certain wireless electric vehicle charging technology developed by The University of Auckland in a multi-million dollar deal.

Electric vehicles are predicted to begin an accelerated penetration into the automotive market traditionally dominated by internal combustion engines, by 2015, with car travel set to be transformed by revolutionary technology developed by The University of Auckland.

Inductive Power Technology (IPT) was pioneered by Professor John Boys and Associate Professors Grant Covic and Udaya Madawala from the University’s Power Electronics Group. They have led the world in developing systems to transmit electric power efficiently across air gaps without using wires.

Qualcomm also acquired the assets and technology of spinout company HaloIPT – a company set up in partnership with international engineering firm Arup, the TransTasman Commercialisation Fund and the New Zealand venture Investment Fund’s SCIF program to develop IPT technology commercially for cars by building prototypes, establishing standards and making the technology reliable. HaloIPT’s staff has joined Qualcomm.

University Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the UniServices Board, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, said IPT technology, now set to reduce the cost and environmental impact of motoring on a massive scale, had started out as fundamental research. He said: “Merely tinkering with plug-in cars, for example, would never have led to Professors Boys and Covic unearthing this fundamentally different technology.

“It is an outstanding example of how fundamental curiosity-driven research, developed through painstaking investigation and testing, was brought to market through the region’s leading technology transfer company UniServices. This development path can exist only in a research-intensive globally-connected University. It demonstrates the ability of universities to influence the future in a radical and positive manner, and to bring global benefits.

“IPT will become the standard technology for electric-powered vehicles. Vehicles fitted with our technology will be able to charge overnight using electricity generated by renewable sources such as wind. Because there is a low demand for electricity at night, little or no extra installed generating capacity will be required to power our fleet of electric vehicles,” said Dr Peter Lee, Chief Executive of UniServices.

“We dealt with Qualcomm because of its track record in establishing the universal global standard for other technologies like mobile phones. The likelihood of the technology being successful or reaching a global market is now more likely with Qualcomm.

“This deal is fantastic news for New Zealand – we are providing access to technology in exchange for payments that will help ensure future investment in New Zealand research.  There will be ample opportunity for New Zealand-based companies to become a part of the high technology manufacturing required for these systems.

“These local companies will have the advantage of being close to the source of the technology and access to many generations of engineers who have graduated from our University with an in- depth knowledge of the underlying technology. We are already in discussions with some of them to make sure they are well positioned to capture benefit from this development.

“We will generate financial benefits to further advance IPT technology here in New Zealand and at the University.”

Andrew Gilbert added: "We can look back with pride and pleasure at how our two organisations worked diligently to achieve a wireless power solution.

"In the future I am greatly looking forward to helping develop a long lasting and successful collaboration with The University of Auckland and Auckland UniServices.”

In May, 2011, HaloIPT announced it would be working with Chargemaster in a strategic partnership to manage the low volume build, manufacturing and infrastructure planning for HaloIPT systems in the UK., in a partnership that would see the two companies unite to develop the most efficient roadmap for delivering this important technology to the UK EV market.

Chargemaster, which has worked in EV infrastructure and manufacturing for over three years, and has the largest number of electric vehicle charging bays in the UK, said it would set up initial manufacturing production for HaloIPT in the UK to produce the hardware that allows electric vehicles fitted with an integrated receiver pad to charge automatically whilst parked or driven over transmitter pads buried into the ground.

By Q2 2012, this partnership will put plans in place for Chargemaster to oversee the delivery of fully assembled and tested production IPT systems including primary and secondary pads, power supplies and associated controllers, ready for deployment.

HaloIPT and Chargemaster aim  to deploy several dozen units in the field with a number of partners in trials, evaluation projects and commercial fleets over the next two years. Chargemaster will ultimately become a distributor of wireless charging using HaloIPT systems and will bring expertise in billing systems and clearing, along with experience in deployment of charging infrastructure to the rollout of HaloIPT’s wireless charging infrastructure.

Martell added: "We have been involved with HaloIPT since the company’s formation as we can see the huge potential of this technology for the electric vehicle market. We are delighted to be working with HaloIPT on this next stage of its development and to use our experience and contacts to help this exciting technology roll-out in the UK. Chargemaster is proud to always lead the field with advanced technology for charging electric cars. IPT technology will compliment our range of charging solutions by providing wireless charging in the future."

Anthony Thomson, CEO of HaloIPT commented: "We have been delighted with how the trial cars Chargemaster has been using since Q4 2010 have performed and we are now excited to see our technology move out of the initial test vehicles and onto the roads in force. The UK is a key target market for HaloIPT and we are delighted to be working with Chargemaster, which is excellently positioned to enable the EV market to take full advantage of our technology, in a cost-effective and speedy manner."