Wireless phone charging for GM

In what may be this year’s smallest scoop, news has broken of a new safety and convenience measure of relatively little importance.

General Motors will start installing wireless charging pads for smartphones in some 2014 models, Bloomberg has reported this week.

Heralded by nobody as major breakthrough, drivers will be saved the time, tedium and potentially dangerous distraction of plugging a phone cord into a power outlet or USB port, thanks to wireless charging specialist Powermat Technologies, in which GM holds a $US5 million stake.

Wireless charging works by transferring power through matched magnetic fields in the send and receive devices. Users simply place their phone on the charge pad, saving time-consuming rummages through handbags and gloveboxes, unravelling of unsightly cords and the energy-sapping task of plugging them in.

“The car is a major part of life for everyone with a smartphone,” Powermat Technologies CEO Ran Poliakine told Bloomberg. “And this is taking care of that part of life.”

Such benefits are restricted to phones designed for wireless charging, but independent research has shown the global market for devices equipped for the purpose is expected to grow from five million units in 2012 to 100 million by 2015.

Powermat says charging time will be on a par with standard wired connections, reducing the magnitude of what is already a very small breakthrough to something more in the order of miniscule.

Quizzed about the likelihood of the technology reaching these shores any time soon, GM Holden spokeswoman Andrea Matthews maintained GM’s standard practice of declining to comment on future technological advances.

US spokesman Dan Flores was similarly taciturn with Bloomberg, refusing to be drawn on what the company appears to be treating as a source of competitive edge in highly competitive times.

“We continue to work with Powermat to bring their technologies to GM products, but for competitive reasons we're not discussing specifics at this time,” Flores said. “The technology continues to move forward.”

GM has already released a Powermat for the Chevrolet Volt in the US. Similar systems are already available in Toyota’s Avalon and Chrysler’s Dart in the US, and will be appear in the new Jeep Cherokee, due for release here next year.

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