Allison interviews Craig Williams about the new Ki Standard. Craig works for Midea, a member company of the Wireless Power Consortium that developed the Ki Standard of which he is quite knowledgeable.
Ki expands beyond the current Qi Standard to go to a higher level of power for kitchen appliances and other applications. Using this standard, a Ki-enabled cordless appliance can be placed on a Ki-enabled transmitter pad and powered through magnetic induction. This resembles how a Qi-enabled phone is charged wirelessly but with much greater power. The Ki Standard supports up to 2200 W, which supports the power demands of nearly all small kitchen appliances.
As a demonstration, Craig places a Ki-enabled cordless blender on a Ki-enabled “cooktop” and turns on the blender, letting it run for several seconds. Nearly any kitchen appliance can be made as Ki-enabled and powered in this manner. No batteries are required in the appliance since all of the power, including for the control electronics, is provided through the Ki interface.
The same cooktop that powers the Ki-enabled appliances can also be used for magnetic induction cooking with appropriately designed ferrous pots and pans. This is because Ki uses the same magnetic induction method to transfer energy as the magnetic induction cooking method. One advantage of magnetic induction cooking is that the cooktop does not get hot, so it is much safer to use than standard cooktops.
Since the Ki Standard was just developed in late 2024, the products that support this standard are still in design and are yet to be released in quantity. However, the Consortium expects this standard to catch on quickly.
Learn more at https://wirelesspowerconsortium.com/
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Transcript of Interview:
Allison: Steve and I stopped by the Wireless Power Consortium booth simply to say thank you for Qi2 and I ran into Craig Williams here and gave him our thanks and he accepted those thanks but he started telling us about something else other than Qi that the Wireless Power Consortium is working on. Now he works for a company called Midea which is a member company of the Wireless Power Consortium.
Allison: So Ki is K-I?
Craig Williams: Yes.
Allison: Alright, so now tell us what Ki is all about.
Craig Williams: So Ki expands beyond Qi to go to a higher power level for kitchen appliances primarily. So that enables you to take cordless appliances, no battery in this appliance, and put it on a Ki enabled transmitter, typically a cooktop, and power the appliance wirelessly from your cooktop.
Allison: So what he’s just done is he picked up a blender that has no wires, nothing up his sleeves, he set it down on this cooktop and he told the cooktop to power it.
Allison: So you said this is a Ki?
Craig Williams: Ki standard, so these are both Ki appliances.
Allison: It might be easier for him to hear if we turn that off.
Craig Williams: Just lift it off, there you go. Just lift it off, that turns it off. So all the products have to be Ki products. So when I put the blender on there, or it could be a juicer or any appliance.
Allison: A toaster!
Craig Williams: It could be a toaster. And it could, as long as it’s Ki, it talks to the transmitter, they confirm that they’re both Ki, and then it can provide wireless power to the appliance. There are no batteries, it is a wireless power transmitting up to 2200 watts.
Allison: Holy cow!
Craig Williams: You can power almost any small appliance you can think of. They’re all yet to be developed, but this is what’s coming from Wireless Power Consortium.
Allison: That’s amazing. So now I also see a pan here.
Craig Williams: This is based off induction technology. So induction cooking requires a ferrous, like an iron or steel pan to do induction cooking. It doesn’t heat the cooktop, it transmits waves into the metal and that’s what heats up.
Allison: So is that normal induction cooking? Nothing to do with Ki?
Craig Williams: Nothing to do with Ki, except Ki uses the same energy transfer method to transfer energy.
Allison: So you can share a cooktop between pans and blenders?
Craig Williams: Yes, so this spot right here has a Ki, but it works for cooking, and it works for cooking, and it would work for an appliance.
Allison: That is bananas. Ki you said the Ki standard just came out how long ago?
Craig Williams: Last quarter of 2024.
Allison: Okay, so the reason you said the products have yet to be all developed is because it just came out, but this is a fascinating future. Where would people go to learn more about this?
Craig Williams: The Wireless Power Consortium, I don’t know if you can get to the QR code.
Allison: He’s got a QR code, we’ll take a picture of that and get it into the notes here for the interview. This is fascinating, Craig, and thank you again for companies just working together to say if we all work on this together it’s going to be a lot better. Like if we’d started Wi-Fi together the same way, if the whole smart home thing had been started together, we’d be in a much better place now. So starting here, this is fantastic. Thank you for the work you guys are doing.
Craig Williams: You’re welcome.
Allison: You people, I should say.