Kansas City Airport Installs Wireless Bus Chargers

Pennsylvania-based Momentum Dynamics will be providing a wireless charging solution for Kansas City International Airport, which will be in place to charge buses when its new terminal opens in early 2023, the company announced.

The inductive charger system will provide frequent incremental charging to the existing KCI Economy Parking electric shuttle buses, thus keeping the buses in service along the seven-mile loop without the need to return to the garage for charging during the day, the company said.

The system will be supported by two 300 kilowatt (kW) wireless inductive chargers located at shuttle bus stops at the new terminal just outside of baggage claim. While awaiting passengers, the electric buses will park over inductive charging pads and will automatically charge while parked over the in-ground pads, the company said.

With this wireless system, the charging is fully automatic and requires very little interaction by the driver. Charging takes place while the passengers are loading and unloading; each charging session automatically ends when the bus departs from the pad. At night, the vehicles have the option of charging away from public view at the bus operations facility, but this is usually unnecessary with on-route wireless charging as the bus batteries remain nearly fully charged throughout the day, Momentum Dynamics officials said. It is anticipated that these two chargers will support the entire KCI parking fleet of approximately 28 vehicles keeping them in continuous operations at peak demand periods. It removes the need to have a dedicated charger for each bus.

“We are proud to be a part of the new KCI terminal project, which thanks to the visionary approach of the KCI leadership team, will enhance the beautiful terminal’s electric vehicle operations by providing invisible, automatic charging without disrupting passengers or drivers,” said Andy Daga, CEO and founder of Momentum Dynamics. “We are seeing demand around airports on the passenger side for taxis, hotel shuttles, parking operations, as well as on the air operations side for ground support equipment including tugs, carts, food service, fuel, snow clearing, and maintenance equipment.”