Evatran's joint venture partnership with Chines parts manufacturer Zhejiang VIE Science and Technology Co. is starting to show the fruits of a deal to bring its wireless charging systems to China, as promised earlier this Summer.

Plugless Wireless Unit

This week at the Shanghai Automechanika trade show, JAC Motors - a state-owned automobile brand that currently is the 8th largest automaker in China (~300k sales in 2016 through October), brought an all-electric JAC iEV6S to show off...complete with a Plugless system on board via the Evatran-VIE partnership.

JAC promotes the recently released iEV6S as China's first all-electric SUV, and says its EV has a 300 km (186 mile) range...provided you driving at ~60km/h (37mph).

In reality, the iEV6S powered by 33kWh of Samsung SDI 18650 cells is rated on the Euro/NEDC at 251 km (156 miles), but is likely good for around 115 miles (183 km) of real world/EPA equivalent range.

Evatran says that JAC is "among many EV manufacturers the VIE/ Evatran joint venture is in discussions with on bringing Plugless into series production".  The company says it hopes to provide wireless EV charging in China for early 2018.

Also of interest with the iEV6S set-up is that the Plugless system charges over a six inch gap - an industry first, which thereby the 10 inches of groung clearance for the JAC EV as required in the country.

Per Evatran:

The Plugless system can be configured to charge up to 7.2kW, or roughly 20 to 25 miles of range per hour. The system is rated for installations indoors and out in an extreme variety of weather conditions. Plugless allows for the widest range of misalignment with four to six inches and in any direction, 360˚ from the center of the Parking Pad.

On the debut, Evatran's CEO Rebecca Hough had some words on the recent partnership with VIE"

“We’re pleased with the quick progress of our Joint Venture, and OEM demand is pacing well ahead of schedule. VIE is successfully leveraging longstanding automotive client relationships, and these companies are enthusiastic about how well-designed and production-ready the Plugless system already is.”

Because we love us some obscure (at least to us) Chinese EVs, and also really like the look of the JAC iEV6S, here is a few more shots (below) of the Chinese EV that makes us wish for a lot more all-electric utility vehicles for the rest of the world.

Pricing on the iEV6S starts from 134,800 yuan price after subsidies (~$19,600 USD).

JAC IEV6S - 0-50 km/h (31 mph) acceleration in 3.9s
JAC IEV6S - 130 km/h (81 mph) top speed
JAC IEV6S Seating

 

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