Electric buses built by Chinese batteries and automotive manufacturer BYD are to be powered en route along roads in the US city of Indianapolis by inductive charging.
BYD, public transit operator IndyGo and Momentum Dynamics, have partnered for the programme to install three 300-kilowatt inductive charging points in the city— claimed to be the highest capacity system of its kind implemented anywhere.
The buses are equipped with BYD lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo) batteries. But the partners say a technical hitch, which reportedly saw some buses achieve lower than the expected distances of 275 miles on one charge during testing, has now been fixed.
Momentum Dynamics’ technology will help power IndyGo’s sixty-foot electric buses on the Red Line rapid transit route from September 2019. Each time the bus reaches an inductive charger, located at endpoints of the route, the battery automatically receives a charging boost enabling the vehicle to continue.
IndyGo president and CEO Mike Terry said the system “promises to extend the range of BYD buses on the Red Line”.
BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group, said in 2018 it planned to list its batteries business within the next four years to fund expansion plans.
