From Wireless Mobile Phone Charging to Wireless Electric Bus Charging
Published On Dec 09, 2016
The world is full of wonders powered by genius inventions and intelligent thinking. Scania, taking the electric bus charging a notch above, has developed a new electric hybrid bus capable of being charged without any help from the electric cables. The bus from Scania will be tested in Sweden's Södertälje in urban traffic conditions.
Scania's latest innovation in bus technology will be used in the Nordic region, as a part of the region's first bus service based on wireless bus charging technology. Both the bus and bus stop are part of a critical research project aimed towards finding pollution and noise free mediums of transport. Scania, along with the Royal Institute of Technology, is immensely involved in making the research a big success for a sustainable future. The Swedish Energy Agency has also contributed financially in the project.
Hedvig Paradis, project manager at Scania, said, "The electric hybrid bus in this project demonstrates a technology track for a more sustainable transport solution. The inductive charging technology is both silent and invisible. The field test in Södertälje is important ahead of the choices facing both society and the automotive industry with regard to eliminating emissions and reducing noise from traffic in sensitive urban environments.”
Seven minutes of bus charging is considered enough to fuel the bus for the next ten kilometres. Anders Grundströmer, Head, Scania Sustainable City Solutions, said, “We are working on identifying the needs of cities and on creating systems for eco-friendly, fast, secure and cost-effective transport solutions, which are based on locally-produced alternative fuels including electrification.”
The total cost of this wireless bus charging technology project is said to be over SEK 38 million. Scania has invested SEK 22 million in the project, whereas, the Swedish Energy Agency has made an astounding SEK 10 million grant contribution towards the research funding. The grant is slated to be divided among Scania, the Royal Institute of Technology and SL.
It is for the first time that such technology is being tried under extreme weather conditions. If all goes well, more northern cities with extreme climate conditions will benefit from the technology.
