You’ll get a charge out of this?

A New Zealand company has created a clean technology that will “take the world by storm”, and Wellington will be one of the first cities in the world to trial it.
UniService, a branch of Auckland University, led by Dr Anthony Thomson, has been researching and developing a new kind of electric transport technology for the past 20 years.
Now, it’s ready to come into fruition, and economic development agency Grow Wellington is in the process of introducing the technology to the capital.
City-based design implementation company Design Initiative is also onboard. Director Alan Hucks says the electric system, called inductive power technology (IPT), is going to be “huge globally”.
He says it means electric transport will go wireless, leaving current plug-in electric cars “obsolete”.
All going well, Wellington will trial the technology on buses first, with the aim of getting rid of trolley buses, the ugly overhead wire system, and the hefty annual maintenance fee.
IPT works through strategically placed charging pads. A receiver pad fitted under a vehicle connects with pads on the road, instantly charging the car or bus.
“It’s incredible,” Hucks enthuses. “[The pad] turns electric energy into magnetic energy, and then the receiver pad takes it to a controller, which converts it into DC energy and charges the bus.”
He compares plug-in electric cars and IPT to the difference between dial up and wireless Internet. The programme will be similar in cost to installing plug-in stations, and going by current statistics, it will cost one-tenth the cost of petrol to charge your car.
With IPT, cars and buses can be charged either statically or dynamically.
Parking spaces around the city will provide static charging – simply park and go. The system will be able to text you when your car is charged, and your parking can be charged directly to your credit card. The sustainable Telecom building set to be built on Willis Street in 2011 could be one of the first Wellington businesses to install static IPT parking.
Dynamic charging through the pads on the road will provide opportunistic charging as you drive, and remarkably, will also be able to relay real-time data, such as traffic information.
Grow Wellington is currently creating partnerships with interested stakeholders for the introduction of IPT, including territorial local authorities and national bus companies. It will then conduct a feasibility study for using the technology on buses.
From there, Wellington will be subject to a pilot program, which will see a selection of buses on key routes testing IPT.
Project manager of Grow Wellington’s centres of excellence, Steven Finlay, says all going well, the feasibility study will be undertaken early next year.
“This is a way of showing the world what New Zealand can offer,” he says. “We’re the leading edge of implementing new clean technology.”
The Wellington parties involved are pushing for IPT to be implemented on the proposed Transmission Gully.
“You wouldn’t be digging up a road because it will be started from scratch,” Finlay says.
Hucks says it would make Transmission Gully the first IPT highway in the world, and it could be used as a model for international companies wanting to test the technology.
IPT has already been shown at trade shows internationally, where Hucks says people were “blown away” and successfully trialed in Italy.
“It’s going to be massive, and it’s little old New Zealand that’s leading the way.”
www.designinitiative.co.nz/ipt.


Why IPT is better than plug-in:
• The dynamic charging means a smaller (therefore cheaper) and longer lasting battery can be used.
• Lower visual impact and less chance of vandalism than charging stations, because the technology is buried in the pavement.
• Can transfer data, traffic and parking information, billing schedules and play lists.
• Multiple vehicles can be charged from one power supply system.
• Removes inconvenience of having to “plug in”.