Milton Keynes, a town 45 minutes outside of London, is putting electric buses to the ultimate test. Later this month eight electric buses will take over a busy 15-mile route. If the buses do as well as their diesel counterparts, they could be rolled out in other areas across the world.
English engineering firm Arup and Japanese corporate conglomerate Matsui partnered up to build the buses that utilize wireless charging. Each night the buses will undergo a full charge. Then, during the day, the buses will recharge with underground coils at the beginning and end of their route. If the experiment works out, electric buses could be a serious game changer.
"If we can demonstrate true parity with diesel buses during this trial, we'll have reached a tipping point for low-carbon transport – we'll have proved it can be cost-effective as well as green," said Professor John Miles of Cambridge University and Arup consultant.
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[via Phys.org]
