Engineering students who predict battery technology is on the way out for electric buses have researched an inductive power transfer and designed a frame which would allow buses to quickly charge from a power grid and hold that charge for much longer periods of time. This technology is considerably kinder to the environment than vehicles powered by internal combustion engines.
The Smart Cart team included Andrew Bonner, Matt Chatham-Tombs, William Dawson, Benjamin Gordon, Nathan Holland, Walter Hooper, Amir Malekzadeh, Michael Murphy and Eric Young.
“With ultra capacity, we can fully charge a bus in less than one minute and discharge that power over several hours. Theoretically, the bus could run indefinitely,” said Michael Murphy.
Read more about this group’s work at http://www.utc.edu/Academic/EngineeringProjects/SmartCart/UTCEngineeringProjects-Technologies.php
