Frequenters of Long Beach’s downtown this week will notice new art and signage in front of the convention center to commemorate new technological advancements for the city’s bus system.
Long Beach Transit hosted an event Thursday, Sept. 6, in front of the Long Beach Convention Center to present its new wireless-charging bus stop, a space where electric Transit buses will utilize Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification (WAVE) technology for faster charge times. The technology is also in line with Transit’s mission of reducing gas emissions, according to officials Thursday morning.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Los Angeles 4th District County Supervisor Janice Hahn and President and CEO of Long Beach Transit Kenneth McDonald were present during the event.
McDonald said the technology also allows the company to test the range and power of its fleet of zero-emission, electric buses.
The stop, in front of the Long Beach Convention Center on Pine Avenue between Seaside Way and Shoreline Drive, features a wireless-charging unit that is located on the floor. The bus will drive over said device, and the WAVE technology will power the electric batteries inside the vehicle.
Michael Masquelier, chief executive officer of WAVE, told the Signal Tribune after the event that the floor pad is designed to resist weight from trucks or cars.
“You can actually drive over it with a truck, a bus– it doesn’t do any damage to it,” he said. “We designed it from the very beginning to be totally ruggedized. […] There’s a pad embedded in there, and it’s actually removable and upgradeable. It’s a bad analogy, but think of it as a sewer cover, where you can pull it out and put in a new charging pad. It’s that easy.”
As detailed by city officials at the event, the WAVE system utilizes electromagnetic fields to transfer energy to the bus– similar to how a wireless charger would power a phone, according to a news release.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” disable_bgshading=”off” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune
Pictured is a portion of the LithoMosaic mural that freelance artists Wick Alexander and Robin Brailsford designed and implemented on the concrete floor near the Long Beach Transit bus stop in front of the Long Beach Convention Center on Thursday, Sept. 6[/aesop_content]
Wick Alexander and Robin Brailsford are the two independent and freelance artists who designed and used their LithoMosaic technique to embed their art into the concrete floor near the bus stop.
Both a duo professionally and personally, the two worked on a couple of mosaic projects for Long Beach Transit at stops on 1st Street and Los Alamitos Bay, Alexander said.
He said it was fascinating to see their art publicly displayed for such an occasion.
“It’s very uplifting, because it’s such a great project,” he told the Signal Tribune. “This whole electric bus captures everyone’s imagination.”
