by Ky Sealy, Sr. Principal Engineer, WiTricity
SAE International recently announced that the organization had agreed on Differential Inductive Positioning System (DIPS) as the technology alignment methodology for the SAE J2954 standard. This is a great addition to the existing J2954 standard that was first ratified in 2020. But what does this mean?
In short: interoperability, consistency, and commercial adoption.
For every car manufacturer, infrastructure provider, and Tier 1 provider thinking about wireless EV charging, this is a great step forward in ensuring interoperability for public deployment. I chair the SAE J2954 Alignment and Controls sub-team and intimately understand the time and effort that went into evaluating several positioning options (including work done by third-party testing firms) and finally coalescing around a position detection system that the industry can depend on, and one which strengthens the J2954 standards. The technology behind DIPS is intimately familiar to WiTricity from our early and ground-breaking work on wireless power transfer.
WiTricity has been a pioneer in wireless charging for electric vehicles, leading the development and implementation of magnetic resonance technology across both passenger and commercial vehicles alike. We have been involved with SAE since wireless EV charging standards discussions began and were integral in helping establish the J2954 standards. With this work on a standard position detection system, we continue to lead the industry in ensuring interoperability across vehicles and infrastructure.
To clarify, this standard (once finalized) will be the minimum alignment methodology (fine alignment, pairing, and alignment check) for public infrastructure and light duty vehicles. It is not required for private use nor for buses, heavy duty trucks, or other commercial vehicles.
For those wondering what this means for the automotive industry, the standard will add flexibility for parking alignment within wireless power transfer, i.e., SAE has added minimum requirements for ground infrastructure to assist vehicles with final alignment. While there were many options before, this guarantees interoperability for any vehicle in a public setting.
An exciting outgrowth of this standard is its use in autonomous vehicles and automated parking. Vehicles that park by themselves will now have improved parking accuracy – and the ability to begin charging immediately – without human involvement.
I look forward to this standard being finalized so we can continue to move forward in making wireless EV charging available – and accessible – to all.
