WAVE Inc. has received a $2.7 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to electrify a bus route on the University of Utah campus.
WAVE's solution for bus routes electrifies sections of roadway at specific intervals – where a bus loads and unloads passengers, and where it waits to begin its next route – rather than electrifying an existing road. The installation on the campus is intended to ‘demonstrate the viability of large-scale mass-transit systems powered by wireless power transfer,’ WAVE says.
‘Battery limitations represent the largest roadblock to full-scale electric vehicle market adoption,’ says Wesley Smith, WAVE's CEO. ‘Solving limitations related to weight, cost, range, recharge speed and user behavior is the highest priority for the electric vehicle sector.’
The technology that will be used for the project features infrastructure that is embedded in the roadway to vehicle-mounted receiver plates. This wireless charging ability reduces battery size requirements and allows for continuous use of the electric vehicle.
WAVE is a private company that was spun out of Utah State University.
