camelot-forum.co.uk

No more pesky charging cables eh?

I'm always concerned about efficiency to energy conversion where this is concerned.
After all otherwise it's like heating on winter with the Windows open.
Cheaper transport is no longer the case as energy is both wasted & paid for by the user / council subsidy from taxpayers.

Can we not just have an automatic charging arm to an overhead connection at each stop where buses are concerned?

https://www.electrive.com/2017/12/06/ab ... goes-live/

https://e-mobility.abb.com/segments/bus-charging/

There is nothing new about this. There will always be losses with wireless charging compared with plugging in. There are some use cases where it makes sense though. Eg to charge BEV busses at bus stops, or taxis at taxi ranks.

The most exciting part of this tech for me is how it is a step towards charging while moving. Imagine if you could charge while driving down the motorway then have a full battery for the rest of your journey…

Where bus lanes are also used by other vehicles, esp 2 wheeled one's you will have both traction loss (can be lethal for a bike & the rider) or, if non sunk plates also a potential hazard /disturbance 24/7 ..akin to living by a bunch of road humps (& all the noise that comes with it)

If sunk then we will likely have more roadworks & fracturing of surfaces requiring maintenance (lane blocking)

The overheads in Geneva seem to work well, they as will charging plates likely also need off road space for the what are in essence a bunch of sub stations providing energy, so it's likely not as seamless as initially envisaged,

The pitch vs the reality, in an already congested foundation may well be akin to cycle lanes being put in & road space lost feeling now from drivers, necessitating wide protected sub station units fenced in along a bus route, who takes the hit (the street pavement area gets squeezed, the driver will shrug their shoulders & say "progress" because their route is designed to be clear at cost to the remaining space & users within the immediate landscape.

What is with all the "tech erections" of having a full battery all the time? ..really? compared to a sufficiently sized battery to do the job, buses will still need charging at night, drivers still need break stops & toilets so planning for fast charges at those hubs makes sense.

It's not as if the roads are ever dug up, with the wrong utility being snagged & cut, lousy re surfacing that not done properly to the correct tolerances & quality leaving the tech reduced / useless in this instance.

We need to look at the infrastructure beyond the public perception of "wireless" delivery (the security fence clad box where the invisible leads terminate).
Overhead frequent charging stations need these "boxes" just like a bev might need a street charger, the bigger the vehicle the larger the "box" ..which is where we need to plan, without our heads in the sand.

Here is a good over view of the Geneva system


And here is the annoying musical presentation showing the "flash loading" at selected spots along routes (something like 14 of 50 stops) ..the hardware is caged & brutal (high voltage thus needed) & ok around an airport with all its harsh design ..but elsewhere less sympathetic & carbunkle like



And finally another OLD video of Jay Leno's garage on a U.S iteration of the same tech (but talking weight reduction via use of balsa & glass fibre body sandwich design.