Wednesday, August 21st, 2019

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Lesla Technology develops a wireless charging solution for the sustainable heating of public electric transport

On July 1, 2019 “Lesla Latvia” has started participating in the research project “Development of a sustainable heating solution for the saloon of public electric transport”.

The goal of the project is to develop an ecologically sustainable heating solution for public electric transport by using heat accumulators.  The new technology will allow heating of public electrical buses without reliance on fossil fuel or extended battery capacity. Heat energy is to be stored in heat accumulators and renewed by wireless charging during stops.

The project will be run by Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU) who has experience in bus transportation research as well as previous basic research in heat accumulators. Two project partners are eMobility, who have developed an electric minibus, that will be the base for the research; while Lesla has developed a novel wireless charging technology for electric cars. In this project it is planned to combine the expertise of all partners to reach a common goal.

  • Transport in Latvia accounts for 18% of  all CO2 emissions, while in Riga it reaches up to 36% and is the biggest source of all the GHG emissions.  8% of these emissions come from public transportation – buses.  In Riga  currently operates 447 buses, that is 25% of all buses registered.  As buses make only 0.6% of all vehicles registered in Riga while making 8% of all CO2 emissions, it is obvious that public transportation is one area where the implementation of emission-free vehicles can give the most effective results.
  • Currently the number of electric buses in the world is very low. Even though in 2016 more than 40 cities worldwide were operating battery – powered electric buses, there were many drawbacks such as higher upfront procurement costs, imminent falling technology costs, necessary infrastructure investments and limited e-bus model choices. The batteries are one of the most expensive parts of electric buses.  Although the prices for batteries have fallen enormously of late, the costs are still considerable.
  • Within this project, the Latvian university of life sciences and technologies will research technologies necessary to transfer and accumulate energy for HVAC in electric buses in a way that does not require battery power, nor direct fossil fuel consumption.

The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Project identification number is: 1.1.1.1/18/A/168