It's electric, and like all battery-operated automobiles needs regular charging. "The charging is done wirelessly, you park up, turn off the key and voila... charging starts automatically," says Anthony Thomson, CEO of HaloIPT, a UK company that has installed the technology. The process uses electromagnetic induction to transfer power from a pad built into the ground to another installed in the bottom of the car. The system could be installed in a supermarket parking place, garage floor or the ground at a special charging station. When a driver parks the vehicle, the two pads line up and with a flick of a switch, the charging starts.



In the case of charging a car, the coils are embedded inside the two pads. And although some of the electricity inevitably gets wasted during the charging process, people who have tried it have praised its simplicity. Two of the induction-equipped C1s have been taking part in the Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators (CABLED) consortium - the world's biggest trial of electric vehicles. "City planners don't like the prospect of a line of charge posts down streets, adding to the existing street clutter," said Neil Butcher, the CABLED project leader, who has been driving one of the two cars since May 2011. "There are also obvious health and safety issues associated with many live electric cables hanging between the post and the car, especially in bad weather, including electric shock and trip hazards," added Mr Butcher.

But with wireless power transfer, bad weather is not a problem, claims HaloIPT. Pads remain perfectly operational and safe in any conditions, "sending" the energy up, even through a layer of snow. As simple as the process might sound, there is a catch - there are currently no charging stations in the UK. So Mr Butcher can only feed his hungry Citroen at his garage where the system has been installed as part of a pilot project. As a backup he can switch to a conventional plug-in cable charging point. But HaloIPT is certain that things will improve in the future, and induction stations will become commonplace. The luxury carmaker has equipped its latest electric model, the 102EX Phantom Experimental Electric with a magnetic induction plate.

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