Wireless charging slow, expensive says report
Brand will work on premium charge services instead
Genesis is abandoning wireless EV charging. A new report from South Korea says that issues with the service made it undesirable so the company is instead looking to develop more premium charging solutions.
The luxury car company announced in 2021 that it planned to make wireless EV charging commercial, and introducing the handy service for its EVs. Customers would not have to plug in, simply drive over the charge pad and park.
Genesis even opened wireless charge stations at a mall in Seoul, allowing customers to use the tech.
But the report from South Korean publication Bloter says that those chargers have been removed and that “enthusiasm for commercializing wireless charging for electric vehicles in the country has waned.”
According to the report, there were several reasons behind Genesis withdrawing from wireless charging. The first is cost. Wireless charge sites are expensive, and installing them at sites was difficult. The chargers were also slow, charging at just 11 kW, which is attainable by a Level 2 home charger. It’s much slower than the minimum of 50 kW possible at a Level 3 plug and well under the 350 kW speeds the GV60 is capable of.
The report also blamed range issues. It said that GV60 vehicles with a wireless charger were certified with a 361 km range, 19 km fewer than a car without.
Instead, the report says Genesis is looking at adding EV charging stations to match BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Those companies have added stations at premium hotels in the country.
