Electric buses that receive their charge wirelessly while parked up have begun a trial in Milton Keynes. Eight such vehicles have taken over route seven between Wolverton and Bletchley to see whether electric buses can perform as well as their diesel counterparts.

Transport Minister Baroness Kramer launched the service last Thursday. The buses will run for five years in a demonstration programme to assess the technical and commercial viability of electric buses. Each bus will operate for 17 hours a day, seven days a week and cover over 90,000km a year.

"These ultra low emission buses will offer the public a quieter, smoother journey, cut carbon and improve air quality," Baroness Kramer said.

Two wireless charging points have been installed, one at each end of the route. In just 10 minutes a bus parked over a charging point will, it is claimed, replenish two thirds of the energy consumed on its 24km drive.

Plates set into the road transfer power directly to receiving plates underneath the bus in a process known as electrical induction.

Director of the Milton Keynes electric bus programme and Arup consultant Professor John Miles said: "Electric buses' physical and economic potential has historically been sidelined because no one could see around the range problem associated with the batteries. Wireless charging can bring electric buses in from the cold."

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