Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority – Wayside Inductive Power Transfer System for Electric Buses
The Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) has expanded its already innovative electric transit bus fleet through the installation of inductive power transfer systems (wireless charging). Working with partners from the University of Tennessee, CARTA has paired an inductive power transfer system with several new BYD electric transit buses, each launched in March 2019 with a battery range of 150 miles and the ability to accept a wireless charge. The inductive power transfer system was installed within the transit-way of CARTA’s Shuttle Park South facility in downtown Chattanooga to allow for en route fast charging for longer, fixed route electric vehicles. The modular inductive power transfer system’s charging capacity ranges from 60 kW to 200 kW and can wirelessly charge an electric transit bus within minutes. As part of a complementary research project with the U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office, each of the new BYD vehicles was equipped with a telematics unit to provide real-time vehicle data and energy usage to a web-based portal that will assist in developing route designs and charging schedules that maximize vehicle performance. CARTA’s utilization of pure electric transit vehicles on its fixed route service going forward will have a significant impact on local air quality and can inform a national model for this type of charging technology deployment.