Bombardier is testing an innovative electric bus, PRIMOVE, in Germany. The bus moves quietly through the streets picking up and dropping off passengers, requiring no overnight plugin or long delays to recharge the battery.
How does the bus recharge? Well, it takes advantage of high-power charging pads built into the road, along the route. This dramatically reduces the long recharge times, eliminating the need for extra fleet vehicles, and battery swapping.
Induction charging — wireless charging — is already working in Augsburg, Germany with on light-rail line and in Torino, Italy, where since 2003 they’ve had working wireless electric buses. In 2012 Utah State University also announced a trial run of induction-charging electric buses. (Via Wired)
Image via Bombardier
Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.
2 comments
Bombardier is supposed to build a test facility near Montreal to test the system next winter to see how it woks in a Montreal winter
Indeed, Bombardier is setting up a test track on Ile Ste-Hélène later this year. I was surprised that NovaBus declined to partner with them.