THE sight of electric cars umbilically attached to their charging stations hasn't yet become commonplace.

But already the technology is about to be superseded.

Nissan in Japan has given a glimpse of the very near future in the form of a wireless charging station for its Leaf electric car.

Present electric vehicle charging technology requires the connection of a cable to the vehicle to recharge its battery via mains electricity.

Now Nissan has developed a wireless charging pad that recharges the battery simply by parking the vehicle on top of a ground transmission unit.

Much like the charging system on electric toothbrushes, the Nissan wireless charger works by electromagnetic induction. Electricity is drawn from the recharging coil in a housing mounted on a garage floor and into contacts inside the vehicle.

Charging your EV is something you never have to think about. You simply drive into the garage at night, park squarely over the charging pad, and leave the car to charge itself. By morning the car is fully charged and you're on your way.

The system is 90 per cent as efficient in power transmission as a cable system, meaning it will charge the car in about eight hours.

Experts say there's no physical danger if a child or animal were to crawl into the 150mm gap between the car and the transmission unit as the unit transmits at a low three-to-six kilowatts.

Researchers in Korea reportedly are already working on an electric bus powered by a continuous inductive connection with a cable buried in the road.

The scenario of induction highways that allow EVs to make intercity journeys without stopping to recharge may no longer be the stuff of science fiction.

Originally published as Electric car is going wireless