Imagine an electric Pepsi delivery truck in Manhattan. It makes dozens of stops at the same locations, day in and day out. Now what if at each stop — or every other stop — it could wirelessly top up its battery pack as the driver drops off another case of sugar water. That’s what Hevo Power is aiming to do with a new wireless charging system that blends into its surroundings by aping a manhole. “I was walking down the street, pondering how wireless charging could be deployed,” Hevo’s CEO and founder Jeremy McCool told WIRED. “I was standing at 116th and Broadway, and I was looking down and saw a manhole cover. And thought, that’s the ticket. There are no cords, no hazards. Everything can be underneath the manhole cover.” The result is a new system of wireless charging stations that Hevo plans to deploy in New York’s Washington Square Park in early 2014, beginning with two Smart ForTwo electric vehicles operated by NYU.
