The country’s second charging road for electric vehicles will soon be built in California – construction is scheduled to be completed before the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the multimillion-dollar UCLA project, funded with federal grants, will focus on a half-mile stretch of road in Westwood.
And it will come as the university prepares to host the Olympic Village – where all participating athletes will stay during the Games.
“A wireless inductive option is a game-changer,” Clinton Bench, director of UCLA Fleet and Transit, told the Times.
“When a vehicle drives over (a charger), the vehicle can accumulate charge while driving.”
Nearly $20 million in grants will be used to modernize UCLA’s bus fleet to replace gas-powered vehicles with electric buses.
The electric vehicle charging road eliminates the need to connect buses to electric charging coils.
Thanks to several underground charging stations, any electric vehicle that uses the road can be charged.
The buses would be charged on a stationary wireless charger throughout the day while driving or parking.
The coils will be installed under Charles E. Young Drive between the Westwood Plaza intersection and UCLA’s Murphy Hall.
Additional stationary chargers are planned for passenger drop-off and pickup, as well as transit depots where UCLA buses stop.
Last year, Detroit used the same technology to become the first city in the U.S. to create a public street for wireless charging.
