Automotive OEMs these days have a found a new toy to peddle to their consumers. Wireless chargers! But as premium this feature is, for a market like India, it is almost useless. There are many reasons for this including the pitfalls of wireless charging technology itself. These days, wireless charging can be found as a premium feature on many cars, including many new models that cost less than Rs 8 lakh but don't get fooled by the hype. Here's why!
Wireless charging pads in cars charge devices very slowly
- India is not a wireless charging market. Most smartphones sold in India are priced below Rs 20,000, while the iPhone SE is counted among the most affordable phones to offer this feature - which starts at Rs 39,990. Yes, one of the most affordable and popular phones to provide the feature is two times more expensive than the average price of a smartphone in India. Wireless charging is utterly a fringe benefit at most.
- Actually, that's also not true because wireless charging isn't even truly wireless. You need a pad on which you keep the phone. So the moment you pick up the phone, the phone does stop charging. Many people still use their phones while charging it with a cable and via wireless charging, this isn't possible. Of course, it is unsafe and highly ill-advised to use a phone while it is being charged, but people do it.
- Inside a car, especially one that's moving, getting a phone to be charged consistently is difficult using wireless charging as the movement of the vehicle will often move the phone from the wireless charging point. As most wireless chargers don't enable a magnetic connection, the charging can stop randomly. It is unreliable, to say the least. This may change with Apple's MagSafe charging tech, but then again automotive OEMs will have to incorporate it but it is likely to remain an Apple exclusive tech which again can't be a solution.
Not all wireless charging pads in all cars can accommodate all phones
- Then there is also the case of wireless charging being slow. Only recently smartphone companies like Xiaomi and Huawei have come up with fast wireless chargers which work with proprietary chargers. But the standard Qi-based wireless charging is gated at 5-7-watts wherein even an iPhone now gets charged at 18-watts. So your charge speeds are reduced to 50 per cent.
- Wireless charging also heats up the phone - so unless you have a cooling pad, like on the new Hyundai i20, it is a feature that's going to make your phone toasty. In a place like India, where the temperatures can get pretty excruciating in the summers, this is an even bigger issue as overheating can reduce the life of your phone's battery and can cause all kinds of damage to the phone.
- On few premium cars, including one soon to be launched by a Swedish brand, the wireless charging pad, itself is so small that it can't accommodate the average modern smartphone. The iPhone 12 Pro has a 6.1-inch screen and that phone can't be charged on some vehicles because the pad is too small for the phone. Most smartphones these days have 6-inch plus screens. This is just plain stupid.
- Wireless charging can also give more incentive to users to use the phone more so while driving as they don't need to plug in the cable. This is again a bad habit that wireless charging inculcates. Perhaps, in a way, the older wired charging is better - it's faster, it's reliable, it's cheap and it works everywhere.
They are also quite unreliable at times, if not secured
Right now, wireless charging is a novelty. Of course, in markets like Europe, China and North America, there are more phones sold with the feature so an ecosystem is developing around their adoption. You see wireless charging pads in cafes, airports and even in offices and malls, but India is far away from that future. In a way, India is further away from a culture of wireless charging than electric mobility.
I'd prefer wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, faster wired-charging, better safety than wireless charging in cars that are sold in India. What do you think?
