Ford Patents New Magnetic EV Charging Connector

Aside from improving their EVs’ battery capacities, many EV automakers now are trying to improve the technology of their EV charging connectors. While Tesla’s proprietary North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector is still leading in the fast charging rate department, some automakers now opt to develop and produce different kinds of EV charging connector, with emphasis on different areas rather than focusing solely to improve the charging rate.

The latest of such is Ford, where it has recently filed a patent application for its new EV charging connector, featuring a magnetic coupling technology. This new EV charging connector patent was filed to the US Patent and Trademark Office in Nov last year.

Image Credit: GreenCarReport

This novel EV charging connector utilises magnetic attraction in order to secure the connector in place, a la Apple’s MagSafe. Ford said this new connector will provide a more secure charging connection compared to the current conventional connectors. This new magnetic charging connector supports both the standard AC charging, as well as DC fast charging which can be installed and used by both battery EVs (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV). 

Image Credit: GreenCarReport

Unlike the standard charging connector, this magnetic connector does not utilise any forms of cable. Instead, drivers will have to ‘dock’ their cars into the magnetic charging slot, which requires a certain level of precision to execute. Fortunately, the magnets are there to help drivers in aligning their vehicle with the charging dock, aside from providing a secure charging connection.

However, the Blue Oval marque admits that there will be some challenges in applying this novel charging connector. Among the potential problems and setbacks are in terms of the design challenge to fit the magnetic charging port on the vehicle’s bumper.

Aside from Ford’s MagSafe-like connector, other marques have also explored new charging connector technologies that revolve around the theme of eliminating the fuss of handling charging cables. This includes the new Ram Charger’s inductive charging robot, as well as Tesla’s snake-like robotic charger, which was later shelved for good by the automaker.

While Ford is busy developing a new charging connector, Tesla instead focuses on enticing fellow EV marques to use its proprietary NACS connector, as they recently opened it for third-party use. The fast charging rate plus the vast Tesla Supercharging network might sound tempting, but as for now, no major EV automakers have devised a plan to utilise it in their future EV models.