Introduction to wireless power

Electric toothbrushes have adopted wireless power technology for a long, and so have smartphones, and soon electric vehicles. So why not home appliances? Quoting from WAWT ‘s recent research on the wireless power market “Around 3.3 billion small home appliances are expected to be shipped in the next 5 years. The opportunity for adoption of the wireless power technology is not only huge but an inevitable one”.

Wireless power technology is gradually gaining awareness, interest, popularity as well and adoption not only within the mobile ecosystem but also in other industry sectors i.e., other consumer devices including home appliances, wearables, automotive, medical, industrial, IoT, robotics, infrastructure (public places), retail, space, defence and telecom.

The global small home appliance market is very competitive, and cost-sensitive, operating at a smaller margin and growing at a steady pace. Appliance makers are trying hard to keep the interest by driving growth through step-change innovations, adding more features, functionalities, and technologies to differentiate and gain share. Adoption of wireless power technology in the appliance space is more of a lifestyle change decision than just a change in the appliance electricals and mechanicals.

Integration of wireless power technology in small appliances is being considered as a major step, which would basically change the market dynamics. However, considering that the wireless power market is in its early stage, this innovation amongst small kitchen appliances would currently be proposed as a premium offering aiding OEMs to differentiate themselves, until this technology becomes a mass-market offering.

Wireless power solutions for kitchen appliances

As wireless power technology continues to advance, Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), a leading industry standard body and its strong members group consisting of companies across the home appliances ecosystem have collaborated and come together and developed, soon to be launched a dedicated solution named ‘Ki’ for small ‘cordless’ kitchen appliances. The Ki-solution provides the capability to wireless power small cordless kitchen appliances up to 2.2kW power levels, and one can wirelessly charge these small appliances not only on your kitchen counter-top or on your dining table integrated with wireless power transmitters, but by also just putting them on your induction-cooktop enabled with this technology.

Since introduced at the IFA Trade Show in September 2019, WPC’s much-awaited low-frequency-based high-power specification-based, Ki-standard is expected to be finalised and launched by mid-2024. Another wireless power solution for kitchen appliances, potentially complimenting WPC’s Ki-solution from a US-based start-up Kitchenery is also being developed.

Based on Wired and Wireless Technologies (WAWT), a strategic technology analyst and consultancy firm’s recent wireless power market research, most of the home appliance OEMs, across regions have shown tremendous interest and are aggressively pushing themselves to be the first ones to launch such new innovative ‘small cordless kitchen appliances’ which has many benefits. WAWT expects a few appliance OEMs to announce their launch of small ‘cordless’ kitchen appliances integrated with wireless power by the same time next year at IFA 2024.

WPC’s member list (which is growing fast) working on Ki-solution currently includes (but not exclusive) Arzum Okka, Bosch, Electrolux, EGO, Flex, Infineon, Invisa Cook, Jabil, LG, Midea, Miele, NXP, Philips, SEF, Severin, Silicon craft, STMicroelectronics, Whirlpool, WMF, Wurth Electronics, and many others.

To summarize

The pace at which wireless power technology is gaining adoption, quoting from WAWT’s recent research on the wireless power market, the year 2023 will be a milestone year as we expect more than 1 billion wireless power receivers and transmitters to be shipments in 2023 and a total of nearly 10 billion in the next five years, which will include small cordless kitchen appliances. So it’s time to cut the cord and enjoy a true wireless world.

Wired and Wireless Technologies (WAWT) through its comprehensive wireless power market research, assesses different types of wireless power technology solutions, be it low/high/very-high frequency solutions, be it inductive or resonance or RF/Infrared/Ultrasound/mmWave-based, operating at different power classes. The research covers 30+ application markets across automotive, consumer, computing, wearables, hearables, medical/healthcare, industrial, robotics, retail, defence and space, infrastructure, and other sectors. Reach out to our subject matter experts (SMEs) at analyst@wawt.tech and follow our LinkedIn page (WAWT) for the latest market trends and updates on wireless power and allied technologies.