Nissan has unveiled its plans on producing its 2013 Leaf with a special wireless charging pad for drivers to easily charge their electric Leaf car by simply parking it on the requisite spot in the garage. 

Photo: the Leaf charging pad, from www.fastcompany.com

Instead of charging the car with a large electric plug wired to a wall charger point, you just have to place your Leaf over a large plastic pad on the floor. The pad contains the coils of a wireless induction loop and some electronics. The other coils are installed beneath the floor of the Leaf itself. To charge it up the car is electrically reversed over the pad into the spot with the aid of a dashboard display; sensors tell the car when to stop, says Fast Company. Then the alternating current is turned on and the loop in the pad and the loop in the car are connected to charge up the car’s battery.

Nissan is to make the charging system available for new Leaf vehicles from 2013. The good-looking and convenient charging spots can become commonplace at roadside rest stops and garages in future as the quantity of people using electric cars grows.

The only problem with the inductive charging is that it’s quite wasteful as some energy gets lost during the process of charging and it may be up to 20%. However, zero-emission vehicles can still competitive alternatives to conventional ones. Nissan Leaf has just won the Car of the Year Japan 2011-2012 award that was announced at the 42 Tokyo Motor Show and in 2013, Nissan also plans to launch Nissan NV200 Taxi, New York City’s exclusive ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’.