Microwave buses

Ronald Parise of Suffield, Connecticut, thinks he can make electric buses go
farther. Today’s batteries can’t store enough charge for long journeys, and
drivers don’t like stopping for top-ups. Parise proposes using a radio antenna
on top of the bus to pick up microwave signals from overhead transmitters every
few hundred metres along streets (W0 98/50996). Microwave energy is converted
into electricity, which charges the battery or keeps an onboard flywheel
turning. For safety reasons, the transmitters only switch on when a bus is
directly underneath. Each bus has its own low-power radio beacon, which triggers
the transmitter when it gets within range.