Imagine if your phone, headphones, and even your desk lamp could charge the moment you walked into a room — no plugs, no cables, no hunting for a socket. That sci-fi idea is exactly why people are getting excited about wireless power transfer, and Finland keeps popping up in the headlines.
But here’s the key thing: “electricity through the air” can mean a few very different technologies, and some viral posts mix them up. Let’s unpack what’s real, what’s exaggerated, and what Finland is genuinely doing that’s pretty impressive.
Wireless power transfer: what it actually is
Wireless power transfer means sending electrical energy from a transmitter to a receiver without a wire connecting them. Instead of copper cables carrying moving electrons, the transmitter creates a changing electromagnetic field, and the receiver turns that field back into electricity.
You’ve already seen the “small version” of this in real life:
Wireless toothbrush chargers, charging pads for phones, and some medical devices use short-range magnetic fields. The important detail is range: most everyday wireless charging works over very small gaps — often millimetres, or a few centimetres at most.
So when you hear “through the air”, think: across a gap, not across a city.
Why people are talking about Finland
Finland has strong research and testing going on in this area, especially through universities and transport projects.
At Aalto University, researchers have built systems that can charge devices across a whole area, not just one perfect “sweet spot” on a pad. One project uses a grid of coils under a surface. Neighbouring coils run in opposite directions, which creates a pattern of magnetic “flows” that a receiver can pick up above the surface. Even better, the system can detect when a device is present and focus power where it’s needed, instead of energising the whole area all the time.
Aalto researchers have also explored ways to keep wireless charging efficient at longer distances than typical pads, using a clever idea called radiation suppression (basically, arranging currents so less energy leaks away as wasted radiation). They reported high efficiency (over 80%) at distances about five times the antenna size in a research setup — a surprising result, because efficiency usually falls fast as distance increases.
Meanwhile, the University of Oulu (a major centre for wireless tech) is involved in projects linked to future 6G networks, including ideas like devices that can run with less need for batteries by using energy harvesting and wireless power transfer.
And it’s not just labs. Finland has also explored wireless charging for electric vehicles, including partnerships aimed at testing “electric road” style charging where vehicles can charge without plugging in, using inductive technology built into infrastructure.
So yes — Finland really is active here. The hype happens when people jump from “wirelessly charging across a gap” to “powering everything everywhere like Wi-Fi”.
How electricity can travel through air
To understand what’s going on, it helps to picture two main “families” of wireless power:
The first is near-field transfer (mostly magnetic). This is like a transformer, but with an air gap. A changing magnetic field from the transmitter induces a current in the receiver. It can be very efficient, but it usually needs short distances.
The second is far-field transfer (beaming energy as microwaves or lasers). This can travel further, but it raises bigger challenges around safety, aiming, and wasted energy. It’s more like shining a torch at a solar panel than like a normal charger.
Most of the exciting Finland stories are about the first type: near-field systems becoming smarter and more flexible.
Aalto’s “charging area” approach is a great example. Instead of one big coil blasting power everywhere, they use lots of smaller coils in a grid. When a device appears, nearby coils “wake up” and transfer power where the receiver sits — even if the device moves.
That’s why some researchers talk about future kitchens where appliances don’t need visible cables, or warehouses where robots charge while they work.
Where you might see it next
Wireless power transfer becomes more useful when it saves time, reduces wear and tear, or makes something safer.
Here are a few realistic places it could grow:
In warehouses and shops: Mobile robots can charge over marked zones in the floor, so they don’t need to stop for long plug-in breaks. Aalto tested ideas like this with commercial robots in a real setting.
In transport: Wireless charging for buses, taxis, or delivery vehicles could happen at stops, depots, or even short road sections — not because the air is “full of electricity”, but because the vehicle passes over a powered system designed for that exact job.
In healthcare: Some implants and medical devices could benefit from better wireless charging so patients don’t rely on frequent surgeries for battery replacements. Aalto’s work explicitly links to this kind of future use.
In smart cities: Low-power sensors could run longer without battery changes if networks and devices get better at harvesting energy and receiving small amounts of power wirelessly.
Limits, safety, and the “Wi-Fi for electricity” myth
Now for the big reality check: powering a whole home or city “through the air” with no cables at all is much harder than powering a phone or a sensor.
Why?
Distance matters a lot. With near-field methods, the usable energy drops sharply as you move further away. That’s why your phone won’t charge if you lift it too far off a pad.
Safety matters too. Strong electromagnetic fields can interfere with devices, and any system has to meet strict limits. The clever trend in modern research is to localise the power — only energise the spot where the receiver is — so you don’t flood a whole room with a strong field.
Cost and infrastructure matter as well. A charging road, for example, takes planning, installation, and maintenance. It may be brilliant for specific bus routes, but it’s not the same as replacing the national grid.
So, as exciting as the idea sounds, Finland isn’t turning the sky into a giant socket. What Finland is doing is pushing wireless power transfer towards smarter, safer systems that work in more real-world situations than the old “perfectly aligned charging pad” approach.
Next time you put your phone on charge, ask yourself: if you wanted your whole desk to act like a charger, what would engineers need to solve first — efficiency, safety, or cost?