The new Tesla Cybertruck will be the first model from the American brand to be able to charge wirelessly. The electric pick-up would in fact be compatible with the induction charging developed by the manufacturer.
Today, charging electric cars still remains a very important subject for motorists. Many people are still afraid of breaking down and running out of autonomy, even though there are more and more terminals.
A new charging function
The builders are therefore not idle and continue to work on even faster charging solutions and practical. We think, for example, of Nio which unveiled a terminal capable of delivering up to 640 kW of maximum power. Enough to recharge a car in less than 10 minutes.
On the Tesla side, we remain limited to 250 kW on Superchargers for the moment. Which may not seem like much, especially compared to the 350 kW of Ionity and the 360 kW of Lidl.
However, Elon Musk's firm is not idle. She is in the process of developing a any other charging solution, still little known at present. This is wireless charging, a technology that is of interest to more and more manufacturers and that the brand has already been offering for smartphones for several years now.
This is the Cybertruck, as confirmed by the site Electrek, which relays a find made by Tesla owners on the internet. The latter in fact noticed the mention of connectors dedicated to induction charging located on the battery pack on their electric pickup's manual. But to be honest, this is actually not a real surprise, since we knew that the vehicle would be equipped with this functionality.
Franz von Holzhausen, the brand's designer, had confirmed this information a few months earlier, during an interview with Jay Leno. The latter indicated that Tesla was working on induction charging, without any detour. Which contrasted with the first mention of this technologyin March 2023. At that time, a simple photo was shown during the Investor Day organized by the manufacturer.
Several advantages
But at that time, the latter had not been very talkative on the subject, giving no details on this teaser which had been widely relayed throughout the world. A few months later, Tesla acquired the German company Wiferion, which specializes in wireless charging. But only two months later, the American firm decided to separate from the start-up and resell it. However, she still retained a team of engineers.
They were the ones who were responsible for thinking about the development of the brand's new induction charging system. The latter will therefore benefit the Cybertruck, but we do not yet know how much power it will be able to deliver. Knowing that the pick-up has a large battery of around 123 kWh, we hope that it will be substantial.
Also studied by other manufacturers such as Volvo or Nissan, wireless charging has many advantages. Of course, it is more practical, because it allows you to do without cables, and it takes up less space, not to mention the fact that it would also be more reliable. However, this technology would also be more expensive than a simple wallbox to install at home.
During CES 2024, we were able to see wireless charging from Valeo, the French equipment manufacturer. Enough to recharge a Volkswagen ID.4 with a power of 7 to 11 kW, with excellent efficiency, close to 93%.