Is Tesla planning to go wireless? The company has long touted autonomous driving technology, which will require some form of automated charging. In 2015, Tesla showed a prototype of a gee-whiz “snake charger.” In 2017, there were rumors that it was working on a ground-mounted automated conductive charger.

This March, Tesla teased what appeared to be a wireless EV charging system, feeding speculation that it had come around to the wireless way. Now the suspicions have been confirmed—Tesla has agreed to acquire Wiferion, a German startup that provides inductive charging technology.

Wiferion was founded in 2016, and says it has deployed over 8,000 chargers, mostly for industrial robots. In 2022, Wiferion announced a global licensing agreement with wireless charging pioneer WiTricity.

Electrek estimates that the cost of the acquisition will be between 50 and 100 million dollars.

Sources: Teslarati, Electrek