Tesla has officially acquired Germany-based wireless charging startup, Wiferion, as the automaker is expected to launch its own wireless charging platform.
Earlier this year, we reported that Tesla was the leading potential acquirer of Wiferion, a Germany-based wireless charging startup known for inductive charging technology for industrial robots and electric vehicles, according to official company documents.
Now, a few months later, several German publications have confirmed that Wiferion has accepted an offer to be fully acquired by Tesla.
The official cost of the transaction hasn’t been disclosed, but as previously reported, it is expected to be in the high double-digits – likely between $50 and $100 million.
A year ago, this move would have been surprising for Tesla, which has never shown any interest in wireless charging.
The problem wireless charging solves is not a major one. It alleviates needing to plug in your car, which is not a super difficult or time-consuming task. Nonetheless, Tesla has previously talked about automating the task in order to be ready for self-driving technology. If the cars could drive themselves, it would make sense for them to be able to charge themselves without a human needing to plug them in.
Over the years, Tesla has favored an automated robot arm instead of wireless charging to complete this task, but things have changed recently.
Earlier this year, Tesla teased a new wireless home charging station – pictured above.
Now it’s likely that this acquisition could accelerate this effort.
Wiferion was founded in 2016 and has developed inductive charging solutions for industrial robots and electric vehicles. It has reportedly deployed over 8,000 chargers, primarily for industrial robots.
Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
Top comment by D. Ferri
Liked by 6 people
Something like this is going to be vital to self driving/driverless vehicles if charging is going to be part of the mix. I never bought into the robotic arm thing, too much to go wrong/break.
View all comments