WAVE Technology Install Completed for City of McAllen Electric Buses
Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification (WAVE) has completed a project with The city of McAllen’s Transit Department, Metro McAllen (McAllen), to install WAVE technology on two buses that include an all-electric, Zero-Emission Propulsion System (ZEPS) provided by Complete Coach Works (CCW).
WAVE technology transfers power through the air, from embedded charging pad placed in the pavement to the vehicle's undercarriage 7 to 8 inches above, minimizing the need for on-board power storage.
Mario Delgado, Transit Director for McAllen shares, “This project has been a long time coming. The predominant reason it made sense for us was that it will allow us to charge our buses while they are in service. It will be idle while it’s stopped over the pad, but we won’t have to pull the bus out of service to charge it. We will be able to complete one full day with the inductive charging, so it’s just very convenient. We will give our bus the range it needs during a whole day without disturbing our service. The WAVE in-route charging roughly doubles the range of the bus on a given day.”
An embedded charging pad has been placed in the asphalt at one of the McAllen stops so that the bus route will be unchanged. The embedded pads will measure about three feet square. The pads are flat and seamlessly blend with the asphalt causing no harm to anyone/anything that pass over it.
“The bus will arrive over the charging pad every hour, initiating a layover of about 10-15 minutes so that the bus can charge, causing no disruption to the route,” notes Delgado.
When asked about the relationship with WAVE Delgado stated, “It’s been a very good working relationship. There is a level of respect and trust between us and it’s worked well.”
