Demand for wireless charging is gaining steam in warehousing and logistics, largely because of the growing use of autonomous vehicles and equipment in those environments—and a resulting need to maximize uptime, minimize wear and tear, and do away with the work involved in stopping to manually charge a piece of equipment. It’s all part of a continued effort to simplify and streamline daily operations, and experts say it may have industry-changing implications.
Wireless charging—also known as inductive charging—is a way to charge batteries in electric vehicles or equipment without plugging them directly into a power socket. The equipment is placed on or near a charging pad (which is plugged into the main electrical system) so that an electrical charge can pass safely between the two. Both devices contain induction coils that create an electromagnetic field when they get near each other, allowing electricity to pass from the pad to the equipment. The method eliminates the need for mechanical charging contacts as well as rooms or spaces in a facility dedicated to charging—and it promotes opportunity charging, allowing equipment to run continuously. This cuts back on maintenance, saves time, and ultimately speeds up warehouse operations, proponents of the technology say.
“The motivation [for this technology] is robustness,” explains Matthieu Ebert, executive in charge of the U.S. office for German wireless charging technology company Wiferion, which designs charging systems for equipment that runs on electric batteries. “You don’t want unplanned downtime. Wireless charging takes away the potential failures involved. There are no contacts, no objects to crash into, no wear and tear—overall, it’s really taking away the pain points of users who require 100% robust operation of their [equipment].”
There are a handful of companies in the industrial wireless charging space today, with most focused on solutions that power autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and automated guided vehicles (AGVs), as Wiferion’s products do. Those solutions are becoming more advanced and gaining traction industrywide, and the experts say the next step is applying wireless charging to traditional forklifts, which they agree is a more difficult nut to crack, for many reasons. Still, technology advances are creating that possibility and laying the groundwork for a more wireless future for the warehouse.
AUTONOMOUS EQUIPMENT DRIVES ADOPTION
Ebert says a wireless charging “breakthrough” has occurred in the AMR and AGV market, explaining that a growing number of end-users and equipment manufacturers are now using or testing Wiferion’s technology. To date, he says, the company has sold about 8,000 of its wireless charging systems—mostly in Europe but in the United States as well—and works with more than 150 equipment manufacturers who install the systems in their vehicles and robots. The technology provides AMRs and AGVs with an “in-process” charging solution that consists of a wall box and charging pad that can be installed in suitable locations in the warehouse (usually somewhere along the route the robot or vehicle travels), and a rechargeable power source that is contained inside the robot or vehicle. There are no contacts, plugs, or sliding connections for the charger. The AMRs and AGVs automatically start to charge when they approach the charging point, which they can do from any direction.
The lack of mechanical contacts makes the system practically maintenance-free—no oxidized plugs or broken cables to worry about.
Harold Vanasse, senior director of marketing/motive power global for Pennsylvania-based EnerSys, agrees that lower maintenance and reduced wear and tear are driving forces behind wireless charging for industrial applications today. This is largely due to the tight labor market and a resulting need to implement systems that rely less on human labor for routine tasks. He says rising use of automated equipment like AMRs and AGVs in the warehouse creates a natural fit for wireless charging, which can be integrated into the equipment and linked to the software and control systems that power the trucks, promoting a seamless charging process that takes the human element out of the equation.
EnerSys—which provides a range of stored energy solutions for industrial equipment, including lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, thin plate pure lead (TPPL) batteries, chargers, and related accessories—launched its own wireless charging solution during the ProMat material handling show in Chicago earlier this year. The charger is chemistry-independent and capable of charging lead-acid, TPPL, and Li-ion batteries, according to Vanasse. Not surprisingly, the initial focus of the charging solution is the automated slice of the market. Like Wiferion, EnerSys is working with equipment manufacturers to integrate the charging system into AMRs and AGVs.
“You’re seeing [wireless charging] in automation because everything is programmed in. It’s an integration effort—you’re not buying a charger like you do for a flooded [lead-acid battery] product,” he says. “The allure is that this process is more reliable and doesn’t require any maintenance. If we’re talking about this at this time next year, there will be a fair amount of these on the market—and certainly in two years.”
Interest is expected to grow from there.
“Eventually—and we’re already working on this—you’ll see this move to manual vehicles,” he says.
Ebert agrees and points to the entry of EnerSys and other long-established battery makers into the market as industrywide validation for the potential of wireless charging to change the industry.
“We’ve shown that there are some very, very good use cases. If a large corporation like EnerSys jumps on the train, we are on the right path,” Ebert says, emphasizing the use cases in robotics and automated trucks. “As soon as a truck is automated, you don’t want to have humans do the charging—so [it makes sense that] deployment will happen via the automated trucks. This spread with automated lift trucks is then going to generate understanding and acceptance of the technology, and then it will circle back to traditional [equipment].”
NEXT STOP, MANUAL FORK TRUCKS
The experts say there are hurdles to applying wireless charging to traditional, manually operated forklifts, including issues like placement of the charging pads and vehicle alignment. Those challenges are easily solved in automated systems by programming stops into the vehicle’s control system, but with a human operator, much more is left to chance. At least one wireless charging company is already addressing those issues, though.
Vermont-based Resonant Link was founded in 2018 with the goal of creating wireless technology that works to seamlessly and continuously power the electronic devices that have become integrated into modern life. The company targets four key industries: medical devices, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and industrial and material handling equipment. Its material handling efforts are focused on powering traditional and automated lift trucks, according to CEO Grayson Zulauf, who says alignment is one of the company’s key differentiators.
“For wireless charging, you need to align the two sides of the system when you park, [and] that’s the limit of the area you can charge in,” he explains. “With the other chargers in the industry, you need to park within a [roughly] two- by two-inch target area, which is really hard to line up if you’re driving a large reach truck.”
Resonant Link’s technology allows for a 10- by 12-inch charging area—about five times larger.
“That’s what … sets us apart,” he adds. “You want to park and walk away, not repark to get into this super-small area.”
Zulauf says the company has two primary goals for industrial and material handling customers: to reduce the cost of running their fleet and provide the safest charging system possible. Resonant Link’s chargers feature live and foreign object detection, and are built to work in harsh conditions, including those with uneven surfaces and wide temperature ranges. The company is working with a handful of equipment manufacturers and end-users who are testing the technology, and Zulauf says he expects to begin running pilot programs at customer sites by the end of this year, scaling up to full sites in 2024, with the technology being offered as a standard option on lift trucks in 2025.
“I think there will be an even faster adoption [of wireless charging] for automated vehicles, but there are fewer of those out there,” he says. “Right now, we are very focused on [traditional] lift trucks.”
He says he views the industry’s trajectory in three stages: First, replacing wired chargers with wireless systems for lower maintenance and a better operator experience; next, putting them in the places where vehicles are working—in racks, at the ends of aisles, and at loading docks, for example; and third, integrating wireless charging throughout a facility, making the warehouse “an integrated energy management system.”
Energy management is a key term, and one that leaders at Quebec-based forklift battery manufacturer UgoWork say is a guiding light across the industry. Company co-founder and CEO Philippe Beauchamp agrees that wireless charging for material handling is in the very early stages, but says there is a thirst for new technologies that makes this an exciting time to work in the stored energy solutions business.
UgoWork does not offer wireless charging today but rather, goes to market with an energy-as-a-service business model designed to take over battery maintenance and management for its warehousing customers so that they can focus on getting products out the door faster. It’s the same principle, he says: removing barriers, streamlining operations, and creating a more efficiently run warehouse.
“Customers everywhere want to try new things; they’re open minded, and it’s fantastic,” Beauchamp says. “UgoWork and the wireless technology companies, we’re really working on the same thing: simplifying the charging process.”
