Aftermarket idea: Wireless phone charging coil on the Model 3 charging tray

[JoshG]

Just examined that well-designed lift-up charging tray in our Model 3, and there's no question it's thick enough to hold a Qi-type charging coil, or even two. This way you could just place your phone(s) in the charging tray without messing with that little lightning/usb connector if you have a capable phone. As it is now, it's fussy if you have any type of case, and impossible to use if you have a thick case. But that tray is very well made and quite thick. Compared it to my Iottie wireless charging pad and it's definitely thick enough. And of course there's two USB connectors under that tray to supply the power.

I hope Tesla is working on a version that supports wireless charging. But assuming they have about 7,000 higher-priority engineering things to do for the model 3, I think there's a fantastic market for an aftermarket supplier to offer these as a snap-in replacement.

Anyone here have the skills to design such a thing? Maybe Evannex, TSportline, or Abstract Ocean could tackle this? I'd pay $150 or so for a replacement tray with two coils. Best might be 3 coils - two for vertical phones in the places that the current phones would have connected, plus one lower down in the center of the tray for a single phone to lay in the landscape orientation?

Yes, I know we'd lose the direct-connection data capabilities, but with bluetooth connections, the actual functionality that would be lost is really minimal. The advantage of just dropping your phone in there for charging is worth it in my opinion.

Have at it, Tesla entrepreneurs!

 

[smak]

Couldn't you just plug any QI charger currently on the market on the outside of the pad, instead of the phone?

That would be the simplest way to do it, if you could find one the right shape

 

[David99]

I tried it. I used a wireless charging pad in my car. It's super convenient, but I noticed the wireless charging affects signal quality and weakens reception. Driving around you already deal with areas of bad reception so the problem just gets worse. After a few weeks of testing and disappointments I went back to the good old cable connection.

 

[dragoljub]

I take the 2 seconds to plug in the phone and even close the lid to not be distracted while driving. Great design by Tesla to allow you to hide phone screens but keep music etc controlled through the car wheel.

Only problem is it’s so well hidden sometimes I forget the phone (key) in the car.

 

[luvnMyTS]

I'm pretty sure you can find an adapter cable on Amazon or elsewhere that will connect to the male end coming out of the tesla and then into your phone. Not much different than just plugging into the USB port, but allows you to have the option and take advantage of the plugs already in the car.

 

[davedavedave]

Just examined that well-designed lift-up charging tray in our Model 3, and there's no question it's thick enough to hold a Qi-type charging coil, or even two. This way you could just place your phone(s) in the charging tray without messing with that little lightning/usb connector if you have a capable phone. As it is now, it's fussy if you have any type of case, and impossible to use if you have a thick case. But that tray is very well made and quite thick. Compared it to my Iottie wireless charging pad and it's definitely thick enough. And of course there's two USB connectors under that tray to supply the power.

I've been thinking a lot about this myself - and as surprised to find that your post is the only one that came up! I'm planning to buy an extra tray from Tesla and do a DIY mod, positioning 2 cheap QI coil kits in the perfect spots for our iPhone Xs.

One big problem that facing anyone trying to manufacture and market "Qi charger trays" will be the positioning of the coils on the tray. Every phone has a slightly different sweet spot and needs to be positioned slightly differently on a Qi charger - so I think that they could wind up with a lot of unhappy customers. Big risk, IMHO.

 

[Az_Rael]

We are also talking about this here: Best wireless pad

 

[MP3Mike]

I'm pretty sure you can find an adapter cable on Amazon or elsewhere that will connect to the male end coming out of the tesla and then into your phone. Not much different than just plugging into the USB port, but allows you to have the option and take advantage of the plugs already in the car.

The USB ports in the Model 3 don't appear to provide enough power for a good Qi charger. (It only provides 1 amp, and since Qi loose a lot of power in the process you need a 2 amp power supply to be able to provide 1 amp to the phone via Qi.)

So maybe the aftermarket kit will need to include plugging in to the 12v socket to provide enough power. (The advantage of that is it leaves the USB ports open to plug in USB mas storage for music.)

 

[MP3Mike]

So according to this video the two rear USB ports can provide ~2.25A, while the front ports can only supply 1A:

So if you need to fast charge your device us the rear USB ports.

 

[luvnMyTS]

The USB ports in the Model 3 don't appear to provide enough power for a good Qi charger. (It only provides 1 amp, and since Qi loose a lot of power in the process you need a 2 amp power supply to be able to provide 1 amp to the phone via Qi.)

So maybe the aftermarket kit will need to include plugging in to the 12v socket to provide enough power. (The advantage of that is it leaves the USB ports open to plug in USB mas storage for music.)

This I can absolutely agree with. The charging rate in the Tesla SUCKS!!! If I'm sitting still at a Supercharger and watching video on my iPad, plugged in to the car, the battery drains faster than the charge its receiving. Beyond that, I think you're lucky if you gain 10% of charge in an hour.

 

[pete8314]

Working on it ;-)

 

[S3XY]

What possible reason could Tesla have for crippling the front USB ports?

 

[Shoal007]

I think this is a uab standard for data. 1A max if using it for data and 2A without. My wife's Mazda does the same (1A in front and 2A in back)

 

[S3XY]

From what I read, and assuming my comprehension is correct, USB 2.0 and 3.0 allow a 1.5 amp draw. I'd even settle for that.

 

[ebmcs03]

I thought at one point Tesla said PUP included wiresless charging for phones in the center console?

 

[MP3Mike]

I thought at one point Tesla said PUP included wiresless charging for phones in the center console?

I don't think so but Motor Trend did... Obviously they were wrong.