There will be an efficiency loss compared to direct charging. However, that usually is not the highest priority of Infiniti buyers. The really good part is it makes charging much safer if done right.
People often choose convience over efficiency. If you are paying for wind or solar, you might not find more solar panels or turbines a heavy cost to just driving into your garage and rarely needing to plug-in, and never needing to stop at the gas station. It still has the plug for when you want it. The exterior looks much better IMHO than the leaf. There are only a small percentage though that want a sub 100 mile BEV. Only a percent of these want this charging method, but nissan is going for them.
Means you'd always have to park in the same spot (e.g. not the driveway). It is a convenience, though. It would be a nice to have not fiddling with a cable every time you get out, which surely isn't a big hassle, but still a small one.
I would expect a car to have sensors and, in a luxury car, automatic parking. Inductive charging makes sense in a luxury car and it could even make sense as an upgrade in a car. An additional 5% loss might only cost $0.005/mi, which would be a cost of $750 over 150,000 miles. Hell, 95% of Americans pay $900 to $1500 extra for an automatic transmission that's less efficient than a manual (and if it's not, it's only because the manufacturer *coHondaugh* puts short gears on the manual transmission to make the car sound faster for the ricers).
where'd you get 5% ?? Heck, even charging at 120v on a hard line is closer to 9% loss from grid to battery, right from the get-go. Now you're thinking inductive is going to be less? I wish. And people are all ready screaming bloody murder about a simple 240v hard wired EVSE costing $1,000 (and even DOUBLE that much) . . . . . you think it'll be on par to trench your concrete floor up to install inductive? Again - I wish. It's one thing to charge a cel phone on a pad, but quite a bit more to charge a car. .
would help with people that forget to "plug-in"... which is probably a lot of people... may be the future of charging... just park your car and forget about it.
I just completed a Leaf owner survey that asked, among other things, whether or not this would be of interest and what I would be willing to pay for it. The minimum option (checkbox) was $1000.00. Even if it were that inexpensive, how much per connect/disconnect to a standard 120V outlet would that translate to and for how many sessions? I would rather keep my money. I do like the idea though and I am not sure that it would be necessary to cut into the garage floor to accomplish it. As for the Infiniti, it was a pretty big hit at PlugIn 2012. Very sexy. And the ambient LED lighting looked great.
At public L2 charging stations, this would put an end to the ever growing complaints of someone being prematurely disconnected by another driver wanting to charge. You'd need a tow truck to free up the charger! FWIW, Renault/Nissan/Infinity with the trio of Twizy/Leaf/Infinity LE seem to have a broad spectrum of potential EV drivers covered from super-cool super-light commuter/fun car to leading edge, "Look a' me, Ma!" luxury cars. This is more than market segment penetration, it is market segment domination.
With the 'additional' in the post, I read it as 5% over the current charging loss. Depending on the actual loss and local rates, ItsNotAboutTheMoney's point does stand. The additional charge cost may not be of concern for those interested in the system.
