The fastest way to get solar into public transit would be to modify existing means of public transit to utilize solar energy. Both Europe and Australia have done this already, albeit on a small scale. These Perchtoldsdorf, Austria and Adelaide, Australia have solar busses in operation.
- In the small Australian town of Adelaide, the 'Tindo' brand bus uses wayside power pickup from solar cells on the central bus station; wayside power pickup is something that the SMSSV happens to be interested in. Hopefully this is a solid proof of concept that the SMSSV team can use for inspiration in some way.
- The Perchtoldsdorf system is a single hybrid-power bus developed by a Wales university; it serves a link between two campuses in Lower Austria. The 'hybrid' nature of it comes from the fact that it is powered not only by the solar cells on its roof, but also by a set of exchangeable batteries that are charged at an outside facility using its own solar cells.
Overall there does not seem to be a lot of literature concerning public transit systems that are powered solely by solar energy. Major car manufacturers like Nissan and Toyota, along with Elon Musk's innovative Tesla Motor Company, have started manufacturing and selling solely electric powered vehicles. This is a step in the right direction but a fair portion of electric power still comes from non-renewable sources. In addition, it does not deal with another issue that the SMSSV hopes to solve: road overcrowding. By reducing the total number of vehicles on the road and increasing the efficiency of a public transit system there would be less traffic is largely populated areas and decrease the average traveler's power consumption, both on and off the solar powered ATN.
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