High-power bidirectional wireless charging of electric vehicles

Chris Mi (San Diego State University, USA)

Biography: Dr. Mi is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at San Diego State University. He is a Fellow of IEEE and SAE, and the Director of Cali & Daniel Chang Center for Electric Drive Transportation. He was previously a faculty member at the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 2001 to 2015, and an Electrical Engineer with General Electric from 2000 to 2001. He also served as the CTO of 1Power Solutions and EV Safe Charge.  Dr. Mi received his Ph. D from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 2001. Dr. Mi has published five books and 370 papers. He served as Editor-in-Chief, Area Editor, Guest Editor, and Associate Editor of multiple IEEE Transactions and international journals, as well as the General Chair of over ten IEEE international conferences. Dr. Mi has won numerous awards, including the “Distinguished Teaching Award” and “Distinguished Research Award” from the University of Michigan, IEEE Region 4 “Outstanding Engineer Award,” IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section “Outstanding Professional Award,” and SAE “Environmental Excellence in Transportation (E2T) Award.” He is the recipient of three Best Paper Awards from IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and the ECCE Student Demonstration Award. In 2019, he received the Inaugural IEEE Power Electronics Emerging Technology Award. In 2022, he received the Albert W. Johnson Research Lectureship and was named the Distinguished Professor, the highest honor given to an SDSU faculty member, and only one award is given each year. Most recently, he received the 2023 IEEE PELS Vehicle and Transportation Systems Achievement Award, the IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications Best Paper Award, the SDSU Innovator of the Year Award.

Abstract: Wireless power transfer (WPT) has proven to be beneficial in certain applications, including consumer electronics and electric vehicle charging, in particular with autonomous vehicles. However, the additional cost of wireless charging compared to conventional conductive charging, coupled with safety (foreign objects) and interoperability, has hindered the commercialization of WPT system. On the other hand, high-power bidirectional WPT systems with extremely high efficiency up to 97%, can provide many advantages, including supplying power during a power outage, fast and convenience of charging (anywhere and anytime), reduced cost due to shared charging facility, and the capability to help the grid operation (frequency control, resiliency, reliability). In this talk, we will explore the different topologies that are suitable for high-power bi-directional wireless charging of EVs. We will propose solution that can enhance the efficiency and reduce cost, including the use of double-sided LCC topology, wideband gap devices, novel magnetic materials, and model predictive control.