On Thursday Qualcomm Incorporated announced the first Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) trial for London in what is a UK and industry-leading initiative.  Qualcomm is collaborating with the UK Government, as well as the Mayor of London’s office and Transport for London (TfL) to deliver the trial.  Earlier in the week Qualcomm announced it had acquired substantially all of the technology and other assets of HaloIPT, a leading provider of wireless charging technology for electric road vehicles.  See my post of November 8th.

The pre-commercial trial is expected to start in early 2012 and will involve as many as 50 electric vehicles (EVs).  The trial will use Qualcomm wireless inductive power transfer technology that enables high-efficiency power transfer across a large air gap.  It is very easy to use: the driver simply parks the vehicle in the usual way and the system automatically aligns for power transfer, making parking easier and charging hassle free.

The trial, which will be based partially in Tech City, the East London cluster receiving the strong support of the Prime Minister, is planned to leverage the Tech City entrepreneurial community and encourage companies to innovate around services and applications, in order to enhance the smart EV experience.

Prime Minister David Cameron said, “This wireless charging technology is a giant leap forward for the electric car industry and I am delighted that London businesses will be among the first to benefit from the trial.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said, “In my quest to deliver cleaner air for the capital, I want London to be the electric car epicenter of Europe. Encouraging a massive uptake in electric driving is key to this vision of becoming a zero-emission city.”

“Qualcomm is very pleased to be participating in the London WEVC pre-commercial trial, which builds on the existing trials of electric vehicles sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles in the UK,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development at Qualcomm. “Wireless charging eradicates the EV plug-in cable and makes charging of electric vehicles simple and easy for drivers.”

Addison Lee, the UK’s largest minicab company, and Chargemaster plc, the leading European operator of advanced EV charging infrastructure, have also agreed to participate in the WEVC London trial.

Qualcomm is not the only high tech giant with a wireless plug-in connection.  In March Google announced a trial of a Plugless Power charging station for vehicles at its Mountain View, CA headquarters.

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced that it has acquired substantially all of the technology and other assets of HaloIPT, a leading provider of wireless charging technology for electric road vehicles.  All members of the HaloIPT team have joined Qualcomm’s European Innovation Development group based in the UK. 

“Qualcomm has been investing in wireless power for a number of years and the HaloIPT acquisition will further strengthen our technology and patent portfolio,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development for Qualcomm. “Building on 20 years of development and innovation in wireless power at The University of Auckland and its commercialization company Auckland UniServices Ltd, the HaloIPT team, in a relatively short period of the time, had established itself as a leading developer in wireless electric road vehicle charging — with HaloIPT winning industry acclamation and awards.”

“We are immensely proud of what has been achieved by our team at HaloIPT over the past 18 months,” said John Miles, Executive Chairman of HaloIPT and a Director at Arup.  ”In that short space of time, we have brought world-class university research to the attention of the global automotive industry and, through really innovative design, demonstrated the potential for wireless charging in front of several of the world’s leading OEMs.  That has been a terrific achievement.”

In addition to the HaloIPT transaction, Qualcomm and Auckland UniServices, the commercialization company of the University of Auckland, have committed to a long-term research and development arrangement to promote continued innovation in the field of wireless charging for electric road vehicles by way of inductive power transfer.

“UniServices is proud to see the development of technology for the wireless charging of electric vehicles become an important area for Qualcomm,” said Peter Lee, chief executive officer, UniServices.  ”We believe Qualcomm is well positioned to make available this technology to third parties for the wireless charging of electric road vehicles, and the relationship will provide opportunities for continued research and development of this technology.”

Bruce Bigelow’s article in Xconomy:  Qualcomm Buys HaloIPT (and Patents) for Wireless Charging Technology

On Friday Dr. Peter Diamandis, founder and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, was the keynote speaker for the annual venture summit of the San Diego Venture Group.  This was my second opportunity to hear the dynamic Diamandis present.  His work is focused outside the box, but not so far as to be non-productive; in summary, “audacious yet achievable”.

The X PRIZE Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization solving the world’s Grand Challenges by creating and managing large-scale, high-profile, incentivized prize competitions that stimulate investment in R&D worth far more than the prize itself.  The first two X Prize competitions awarded $20 million to the winners.  In May the X PRIZE Foundation announced that they would collaborate with Qualcomm Incorporated to design the Tricorder X PRIZE, a $10 million prize to develop a mobile solution that can diagnose patients better than or equal to a panel of board certified physicians.

In addition to active X Prize competitions there are others which are in development waiting funding or under consideration including several in the category of Energy & Environment.  The X Prize website lists a dozen “audacious yet achievable” topics for consideration.  (click to link)

• Aviation Battery (Lite/Heavy)
• Carbon Utilization
• Electric Aviation
• Energy Awareness
• ePod/Home Energy Storage
• Featherweight Solar
• Featherweight Wind
• Race to Zero CO2
• Rapid Drilling
• Residential Waste to Power
• Robotic Mole
• Solar Pavement

In particular I am intrigued with Carbon Utilization and Solar Pavement.

Carbon Utilization

We recycle aluminum, glass, paper, plastic, and yard waste – why not carbon? As of now, no company has successfully commercialized a carbon utilization technology. Current government funding is narrowly focused on ultra-expensive geologic sequestration, which treats carbon as a liability, with virtually no attention to utilization technologies, which treat carbon as an asset. A Carbon Utilization competition crosses political boundaries and environmental ideologies by finding profit in reducing emissions through technological solutions. The goal would be to develop radical new technologies that solve the global carbon challenge by recycling CO2 into brilliant new products. The winning team must create a system that cost-effectively transforms carbon emissions from coal-based power plants into beneficial products. This must be accomplished while maintaining energy producers’ ability to provide reliable cost-effective “base load” power to their customers, including those below the poverty level.

Solar Pavement

While nearly 3% of US land area is covered by pavement, it provides no benefit other than surface structure. A significant impact could be achieved if it were made to also produce power. The goal of the Solar Pavement competition will be to turn blacktop surfaces into photovoltaic power generation sources. The winner will be the first team to convert a one acre parking lot surface into a generator that can produce a peak power output of 50kW of solar energy.

On Thursday June 9th CleanTECH San Diego’s Electric Vehicle Showcase will be the latest event focused on San Diego’s position at the front line of the largest transportation electrification project in history.  What’s so special about San Diego?

San Diego has a culture of technology early adapters.  San Diego has been one of the top markets for hybrid EVs like the Toyota Prius.  California ranks first in Prii sales and second only to Vermont in Prii Per Capita.  (Yes, the plural is Prii).  Hybrid EV owners are predisposed to consider plug-in EVs.

San Diego is one of 16 cities selected under a DOE grant headed by ECOtality to implement the largest-ever rollout of electric vehicle infrastructure.  Federal grants plus matching funds will total $230 million.

Because the ultimate utility of EVs is tied to the establishment of a charging infrastructure, Nissan, Chevy, Ford and others have focused on a limited number of metropolitan regions including San Diego.

San Diego is the #1 solar city in the #1 solar state.  40 percent of Leaf owners have solar panels according to the California Center for Sustainable Energy (Source North County Times). 

San Diego’s terrain and climate is less taxing on EV batteries than much of the U.S.

Successful integration of EVs to the grid is a task of great complexity.  For the past two years, San Diego Gas & Electric’s advancements in smart grid infrastructure has earned them recognition as the most intelligent utility in America by IDC Energy Insights and Intelligent Utility magazine. 

General Electric has partnered with the City of San Diego, San Diego Gas & Electric, the University of California San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego in Smart City San Diego, a public-private collaboration that aims to improve the region’s energy independence, empower consumers to adopt electric vehicles, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and drive economic growth.

To boost use of electric vehicles, the General Services Administration is installing charging stations for government vehicles in San Diego and four other cities.

The University of California, San Diego has been at the center of several major initiatives which are contributing to the region’s growth as a clean energy center.  The EVs which will be used by students, faculty and staff will form a living laboratory of human behavior and technology.

Qualcomm and ECOtality have entered into an agreement to implement cellular connectivity into charging stations. The solution will allow ECOtality to use a commercial cellular network to manage its Blink brand charging station operations, transfer usage data, download firmware updates and publish availability to electric vehicle drivers in real time.

CleanTECH San Diego is an important nexus for regional clean technologies of all types.  You can click through to their website to learn about their crucial mission.  While you are there you can register for the CleanTECH San Diego Electric Vehicle Showcase.  Indy 500 legend and electric vehicle convert Danny Sullivan will be the keynote speaker.  UC San Diego’s Byron Washom will lead a panel including the CEO of Flux Power, Chris Anthony and General Electric’s Michelle Lesh.  Held on the LEED Silver certified Port Pavilion on the Broadway Pier, the Showcase will include a variety of demonstrations of EV technologies and cars. 

Show up on Thursday with a fistful of business cards to network harborside and kick the tires of the EVs that are in the poll position in the race for energy efficient transportation.  Register here today. 

CleanTECH San Diego’s Electric Vehicle Showcase

Date: Thursday June 9, 2011    4 PM to 7 PM

Port Pavillion on Broadway Pier
1000 North Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92101

Click here to view Danny Sullivan’s classic moment in Indy 500 history.

Clean technology is a big tent which covers things as diverse as 25-story wind towers, 10 acre algae ponds and processing plants which convert ocean water into drinking water.  The common thread is efficiency.  Anything which can be done can be done better.  Inspiration for many cleantech innovations emanates from solutions which have evolved in nature over eons. 

While man has been keying off nature’s designs for millenniums, it has been only recently that the process was given a name, biomimicry.  (The word is not even in the Microsoft Word spell-check I am using).  Biomimicry is the science of taking inspiration from nature, its systems, processes and elements to solve design problems in a sustainable matter.  Biomimicry has a substantial, robust connection to both cleantech and San Diego.

Cleantech applications of biomimicry include super-efficient wind turbines modeled on the fins of humpback whales, energy-efficient buildings designed after termite mounds and lightweight building materials based on the structure of an abalone shell.  Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, MIT researchers are developing a process that will allow the sun’s energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases.  Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

San Diego-based Biomatrica’s technology enables the storage, transport and assaying of DNA, RNA, proteins, cells and virus samples at room temperature without degradation, allowing labs to reduce their reliance on freezers and drastically reduce shipping costs.  Currently, more than 98% of all biological materials are protected from degradation through the “global cold chain” storage on which the world spends more than $34 billion annually.  The founders of Biomatrica, Rolf Muller and Judy Muller-Cohn, got their inspiration while visiting a toy store.  They observed sea monkeys, which are really brine shrimp that are in a dried state but come back to life when rehydrated.

The phenomenon that makes a butterfly’s wings shimmer is the same process used in Qualcomm‘s mirasol displays.  The display works by reflecting light so that specific wavelengths interfere with each other to create color.  The innovation offers low power consumption and superb viewing quality for mobile devices.

Last October, the San Diego Zoo and the Biomimicry Institute held the second annual Biomimicry Symposium in San Diego.  Janine Benyus, an eloquent proponent of biomimicry, is the president of the Biomimicry Institute.  Her presentation was the high point of the two day event.  We can anticipate that the San Diego Zoo will continue to be a key player in this fast growing field.  Like the Zoo, the City of San Deigo is also committed to building on the region’s strengths in the field.  An active champion for biomimicry, Jacques Chirazi is the Program Manager of the Cleantech Initiative in the Mayor’s Office. 

On April 20th CONNECT will present Exercising Your Imagination through Biomimicry.  The presenters will be Lee Hagey, Ph.D. Biomimicry Expert, Zoological Society of San Diego, Project Scientist, UCSD School of Medicine and Jon Prange Venture Business Manager Zoological Society of San Diego.  Click here to register.

To learn more about how technology imitates life, visit the websites for the Biomimicry Institute and Bioneers.

Click video for 2009 Biomimcry Conference

Yesterday I attended a luncheon in Qualcomm‘s boardroom which featured Rep. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment and the co-author of the Waxman-Markey Bill, “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” (H.R. 2454). The bill passed the house in June by a seven vote margin and is now in the Senate for consideration. Congressman Markey explained that the national discussion of this landmark legislation has been stalled by the emotional debate over health-care reform. The health-care rhetoric starves the political room of oxygen for all other discussions. When (and if) a health-care plan is finalized, the national debate over the historic energy bill will grab center stage.

As would be expected of a 33 year veteran of the House, the Congressman is both witty and articulate. He had a chance to demonstrate his listening skills when local business leaders told him what was needed to sustain the San Diego innovation economy. Duane Roth, CEO of CONNECT, stressed the need for effective intellectual property protection with enforcement home and abroad. A senior Qualcomm executive made the case for enlightened immigration regulations. He noted that over the years Qualcomm has recruited many of the “best and brightest” only to lose them when their legal right to remain in the US expired. In each case the U.S. lost a tax payer and Qualcomm lost a skilled, experienced employee who in many cases became employed by an overseas competitor to Qualcomm.

Link to H.R. 2454:   American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009