Wireless phone chargers in cars pretty much all suck. At worst, all they do is cook your phone to the point that it’s hot to the touch, and no more charged than when you got in the car. At best, your phone has gained 3% charge but is still stupidly hot to the touch.
That’s if you’re lucky. Most wireless phone chargers in cars come in the form of pads, and because everyone’s phone is shaped differently, those pads have to be large enough to accommodate bigger phones. Even with rubber surfaces, that means phones slide around, eliminating the charger’s efficacy.
Somehow, these issues have persisted for years. Toyota’s most recent design, where you put your phone in a slot in the center console, has been my favorite solution to this problem so far, but it still gets the phone pretty hot. Nissan has just revealed its own modern phone charging design, and it promises to fix both of these problems.
Nissan’s new design is called the Qi2 (pronounced chee-two, not que-eye-too). Like previous iterations of the wireless phone charger, it uses a rubberized mat as a base. But there’s a raised magnetized puck in the middle where you can mount your phone, so it can hold itself in place without sliding around the second you take a corner. From Nissan:
“With the magnetized puck-like surface, drivers can easily place their phone on the charger and know it’s working without needing to adjust it mid-drive,” said Angela Moon, a senior manager of Research and Development at Nissan Technical Center North America (NTCNA) in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
The magnetization doesn’t just help hold the phone in place; it helps it charge more efficiently.
“Proper alignment is critical when it comes to wireless charging,” said Matt Zimmerman, a manager of Research and Development at NTCNA. “Even a few millimeters can cause a big drop in performance. The magnetic puck helps ensure the phone is properly aligned to receive optimal charging – even with modern phones’ large cameras.”
Why it’s taken so long for any manufacturer to do something like this, I’m not sure. iPhones have had magnetized back plates since the iPhone 12, which was released in October 2020. But I’m glad it’s here now.
While the magnet solves the placement and charging issues, it doesn’t solve the heat problem. Nissan’s got a solution for that, too: a fan specifically for the charging area. While this isn’t a new idea, it is an effective one, according to the company:
“Thermal management has been a common challenge in earlier generations of wireless charging systems. The fan greatly reduces the amount of generated heat,” Moon said.
The benefits of the fan are twofold: By reducing the temperature, it not only helps prevent the risk of overheating – which can cause a phone to stop charging while it cools down – it also enhances efficiency.
“Simply put, a phone can charge faster when it’s cooler,” Moon said.
With these two features combined, Nissan promises consistent power delivery of 15 watts—around triple the power of previous-generation chargers, according to the company. That’s also a bit closer to what most car-mounted USB-C ports output, in case you were wondering. Nissan claims its new setup was able to get its test phone, an iPhone 14 Pro, from 10% charged to 90% charged in just 90 minutes, down from four hours.
This wireless charging pad will be available on 2026 Pathfinders and Muranos, so we won’t have to wait long to find out for ourselves whether Nissan’s claims are true. I’ve been let down by dozens of wireless phone chargers at this point in my career, so I really hope this time is different.
Top graphic images: Nissan; Insane Clown Posse/YouTube
Magnets?
Better not get it wet, if our President is to be believed.
I have an aftermarket phone holder with Qi wireless charging in my car. The phone does not get extremely hot, and it does keep the charge when using the phone to navigate. It grabs the phone tightly with movable arms.
Well the idea of cooled qI chargers is not new though. Xpeng has it, many others are working on it. Same thing for the magnet.
ICP: insane charging pad
Judging by that top shot, I suspect someone on the Autopian team would love a tall glass of Cotton Candy Faygo.
Let that Juggalo Juice loose!
My dog had his head cocked with an expression like he was doing algebra today, I said to my wife in my best dog voice, “magnets, how do they work?” Such a funny line and good for so many situations.
Looks like a good idea but wouldn’t the raised puck make it hard to fit phones without magnet rings?
This is definitely something that Mazda screwed up on the CX-5. Making things worse, the too-large tray is at an angle, so any good bump will send your phone down the slope into the little well below the charging tray, and out of charge.
I applaud Nissan for bringing a qi2 charger to market. Nice to see them innovating (I’m pulling for you, little buddy!). But as many have pointed out, this feels like tech that will be obsolete before the car is. And there are plenty of good mounts and qi2 discs / rings available.
Here’s what I would like to see a manufacturer do:
1. Work with ProClip or another high end mount manufacturer to build in a good spot(s) for the mount(s) to go. By being proactive about this you end up with better solutions than ProClip’s current method, which is reactive.
2. Give us a bank of at least four USB C Thunderbolt power-only ports, hidden behind a little door. The door has little ports for cables to come out of it discreetly, and is positioned with that mount location in mind.
Now you have a solution that looks like it’s integrated OEM, but you have flexibility to choose your qi2 ring or disc or mat or whatever you like.
I’m all for features like this being included as standard equipment, but if it sweetens the pot to get it done, OEM’s can include this as part of their ‘Advanced Technology Package’ or whatever.
“Includes integrated wireless qi2 and Magsafe charging, developed with ProClip, Sweden’s premier high end automotive integration company.”
^^There you go, @proclipUSA, a million dollar idea for you.
Or you could, I dunno, plug in a USB cable.
My charge port broke within the first month, mainly because the idiots at Samsung decided phones no longer need covers over the ports to keep dirt and debris out. I have no choice but to charge wirelessly.
No “cigarette lighter” port?
I haven’t had a port cover in years. So far my charging still works perfectly fine even though I use it on the beach and my phone was built in 2016.
You can try cleaning it out with a toothpick and alcohol. Contact cleaner might help too.
“My magnets all melt when they get wet”…DJT
‘My magnets tastes like burning.’
-Ralph Wiggum
Steam! We need steak powered chargers. They work beautifully and anyone can fix them! They’re 600% better than magnets!
I want to know what a steak powered charger looks like and how it smells. Maybe even how it tastes.
My proofreader is an incompetent bob!
There’s no such thing as an incompeternt boob!
Who knew David Tracy’s middle initial was J?