That awesome wireless charger for electric bikes just hit a surprise hurdle (electrek.co)

submitted 2 days ago by FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io to c/micromobility@lemmy.world

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For the last few years, one of the coolest bits of e-bike tech I’ve seen didn’t involve more power, bigger...

top 8 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] litchralee@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago

Ok, but why wireless charging? The reason that wireless charging works for mobile phones but not automobiles is precisely one of efficiency: delivering only 60% of input power to a phone is fine because that's only a few Watt-hours of loss, but is definitely not fine when it takes 100 kWh to charge a 60 kWh electric car battery. The wastage is catastrophically not worth the convenience if not plugging the car in.

Why then would we want wireless charging for electric cargo bikes, as pictured? Even for normal electric bikes, a bike shelter with USB C cords dangling down from retracting reels would be far superior, and provides weather protection and locking options.

[-] Flying_Penguin@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Less about fully charging and more about a convenient extra little bit of battery time when you are running errands?

[-] markstos@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

But it’s inefficient. In the 1 hour you are shopping, it’s going to charge far less than a physical connection and in terms of environment impact, you are wasting energy compared to taking 30 seconds to plug in a bike. Then there’s the issue that no bikes support this but several use compatible charging interfaces. I don’t expect this to go anywhere any time soon.

[-] Wolf314159@startrek.website 4 points 1 day ago

Plugs, connectors, and cables often break, corrode, get vandalized, etc. The physical connections on most of the electronic devices I've owned have been the first thing to fail. The wireless connections and wireless charging has NEVER been something that I've ever had to worry about physically breaking. I'd wage that infrastructure maintenance is going to cost much more in the long run than the cost of inefficiency introduced by wireless charging.

[-] markstos@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

There’s some truth to that. I’ve had some USB ports fail on phones that were quite a pain to fix or not really fixable at all.

Wireless charging of a phone avoids degrading the USB port through more use. The difference with a phone is that the absolute amount of inefficiency is so much smaller because a phone battery is so much smaller than a bike.

[-] litchralee@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

If time is of the essence, then wireless charging is even worse in comparison to wire conductors. Almost by definition, any stationary wireless charger laid into the ground is supplied by wires, so might as well have conductors all the way that are position-independent and free to use. A dangling USB C cable of any power capacity is going to be a more common standard for more people, while also being compatible with phones and other accessories.

[-] Flying_Penguin@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

I'd still support wireless over a "dangling USB C cable". Would take no time for someone to just walk by and vandalize the cable like they do with electric car chargers.

[-] Hawke@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Is the “surprise hurdle” that it’s a dumb idea?

this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026

12 points (100.0% liked)

micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

3467 readers

48 users here now

Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles, heelies, or an office chair: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!

"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.

micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"

Recall warnings available here.

Feel free to also check out

!utilitycycling@slrpnk.net

!bikewrench@lemmy.world

!bikecommuting@lemmy.world

!bikepacking@lemmy.world

!electricbikes@lemmy.world

!bicycle_touring@lemmy.world

!notjustbikes@feddit.nl

!longboard@lemmy.world

It's a little sad that we need to actually say this, but: