GM Set to Offer Wireless Charging for Smartphones in Some 2014 Models

General Motors is gearing up for the 2014 sales season by offering buyers wireless charging options for their smart phones on selected models. This is an attractive grab on customer’s attention for a number of reasons, the first being to reduce clutter in the driving compartment. Instead of a bulky and balky charging cable hovering around the gear shift, customers will be able to access the charging option via the central console’s touch screen functions and then forget about it. Another added bonus is that buyers no longer have to invest in an adapter that would fit into their automobile’s cigarette lighter.

One such model being talked about coming with the new feature is the Buick Encore. Among some of the other possible brands include the Chevy Volt and possibly a number of models in GMC’s pickup truck line.

CEO of Powermat Technologies Ltd., Ran Poliakine, informed the press recently that GM would begin to offer this option in some of their car and light truck models beginning in 2014. The company is utilizing a business agreement with General Motors in order to develop the technology further. While customers would need to possess phones capable of charging remotely, the latest models of smart phones across the board are now being offered with this technology in the form of built-in technology or the additional use of smart cases. Drivers of GM models which offer this option could then place their devices on a Powermat surface incorporated into the design of the automobile. The Powermat functions in conjunction with a special coil that charges the phones via the electromagnetic field generated by the mat.

While GM is competing with both Toyota Motor Corporation and the Chrysler Group, both of which offered the feature in several of their 2013 models and have plans to expand the technology further in the 2014 product line, the global consumption of wireless-charge capable devices is expected to rise from 5 million as of last year, to over 100 million by the year 2015. That makes this technology an attractive feature to many consumers looking to purchase a new car, and GM’s incorporation of the feature is a wise move in their business practice.

Powermat doesn’t limit itself to auto and home applications, either. Due to their alliance with Proctor and Gamble, the company has now installed their Duracel mats in tables at Starbuck’s Coffee shops in California’s Silicon Valley, New York City’s Madison Square Garden, and locations in the city of Boston. Which means that people will become increasingly accepting of the ubiquitous presence of the Powermat, even as consumption of wireless charging devices grows over the next two years.

With substantial investment in the Powermat technology, although a spokesperson, Dan Flores, refused to give a specific timeline expectation on its inclusion in GM automobiles, several industry groups that spread join the interests of AT&T, Blackberry, and Powermat have already raised significant funds to move the technology forward.