John Boys’ legacy powers new research centre

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland is launching a major new research centre dedicated to the future of wireless power - technology that now charges everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to medical implants, and was first made practical in New Zealand.

Opening on 5 December, the John Boys Transdisciplinary Wireless Power Technology Centre honours Emeritus Professor John Boys, whose pioneering work with Dr Andrew Green, Professors Grant Covic, Udaya Madawala, Aiguo Patrick Hu, and Associate Professor Duleepa Thrimawithana helped turn inductive power transfer (IPT) into one of New Zealand’s most globally influential engineering innovations.

One of the field’s most promising applications, dynamic charging for electric vehicles (EVs), allows cars to recharge while driving.

In 2013, Boys and Covic received the Prime Minister’s Science Prize, a $500,000 award recognising the global impact of their work.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Boys, Green and Covic cracked a long‐standing engineering problem by refining IPT into a safe, efficient and commercially viable system.

Over the past 15 years, Madawala, Thrimawithana and Hu have built on that foundation, developing:

• Active control systems enabling two-way energy flow and improved efficiency (Madawala, Thrimawithana)
• Wireless methods for low-power and miniature devices, including systems using electric fields or sound waves (Hu)

These advances now underpin technologies powering EVs, consumer electronics, industrial automation and biomedical devices.

"John believed that every idea - no matter how crazy - deserved to be taken seriously as they could create breakthroughs," says Covic.

"That approach shaped generations of engineers. Many of our students have carried those ‘crazy’ ideas into global companies, where they’re now leading teams and transforming everything from electric transport to medical technology."

The new centre brings together expertise from engineering, physics, computing and design to pursue next-generation wireless power - from on-the-move EV charging to powering tiny medical implants and industrial sensors.

"Working with our national and international partners, we’re pushing the boundaries of what wireless power can do," says Covic.

"This centre gives us the space to solve real-world problems and accelerate technologies that will impact everyday life."

Long-term partners and collaborators

Research and commercialisation in wireless power at the University of Auckland has been supported over several decades by national and international partners including:

Daifuku, ENRX, WiTricity, PowerbyProxi, Telemetry Research, Smart City Streets, Datamars, and research collaborations with the Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing and Design, the Transport and Energy centres, Victoria University of Wellington’s Robinson Research Institute, GNS Science, and the ASPIRE programme in the US.