Wireless Power Transportation Loop at UCSD

Makello, and Butler Sun Solutions, Inc presented a project proposal for a wireless power transportation loop at UCSD, using a campus shuttle fleet bus, retrofitted with energy storage, wireless power transmitters, and an electric motor integrated into the existing transmission.

If you are unfamiliar, Byron Washom is near hero status in my book of energy efficiency gurus.  He is responsible for "UCSD's Endgame", which is the university's self-sufficient renewable energy, storage, transportation and generation micro-grid.  In times when the SDGE utility grid has a failure, UCSD's grid can power neighboring communities, and has done so previously, to support the VA hospital and other nearby critical infrastructure.

At the meeting, Dr. Barry Butler, from Butler Sun Solutions, Inc. reminisced with Byron Washom, about their years working together and toward achieving the world's record in solar energy efficiency. 

Charlie Johnson, CEO, Makello and Co-Founder, Dan Chlebos, presented a slide set that tells a remarkable narrative about how a single 500 hp motor moved many dozens of passenger vehicles in a wireless power system in the 1900s, and went on to tell the future narrative of a wirelessly powered shuttle fleet that could be tapped to provide reserve energy generation and storage capacity for the UCSD power grid.

Makello proposed a pilot project to demonstrate a UCSD shuttle van retrofitted to be a wireless powered vehicle for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography loop in La Jolla, where there is an elevation change of 400' from the central campus, providing more flexibility in power use and flow.

Barry, as owner of Butler Sun Solutions, Inc, was in the right position to make such an audacious claim, due to his many years of engineering experience and patents in energy research, resulting from a wide range of career experiences with the Department of Energy,  SANDIA Laboratory, and beyond, and also experience with CVT transmission design for Toyota, a necessary component in retrofitting a UCSD shuttle to be a wirelessly powered electric vehicle hybrid.

Makello's Joseph Ocampo, Research Intern attended.