In the second annual Composites and Advanced Materials Expo, this application was awarded with the prestigious ACE Award in the Infinite Possibility for Market Growth Category. It was viewed as a composites product that "demonstrates the potential to significantly increase the use of composites in existing markets or generate the greatest impact to open new and emerging markets for composites."

Strongwell’s pultruded fiberglass DURAGRID® HD-4000 2.5" grating panels are installed as a trench cover at the Utah State University (USU) Electric Vehicle and Roadway (EVR) research facility in Logan, Utah. The EVR serves as the vehicle systems integration facility for the Center for Sustainable Electrified Transportation (SELECT). Magnetic transfer plates are housed beneath the grating which charge electric vehicles in motion.

DURAGRID® HD-4000 provides ample support for vehicle loadings while protecting the magnetic transfer charging plates on the electrified quarter mile test track. This project benefits from FRP’s advantages of being light weight, high strength, nonconductive and electromagnetic interference-free.

The Utah State University technology has been licensed to Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification (WAVE) for stationary wireless charging of buses in public transit systems. The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) operates a 40-foot all-electric bus in Salt Lake City using the WAVE 50kW wireless charging system, allowing the bus to operate a full duty cycle of over 140 miles per day. The USU SELECT research team is now expanding the technology at the EVR Facility to cover a more dynamic system suitable for in-motion charging of passenger vehicle.

These research thrusts have the potential to change the current perspectives on transportation. In order to do so, researchers must have continuous access to the wireless charging pads at the EVR test track. Durable, lightweight, heavy duty DURAGRID® HD pultruded grating panels support the repetitive traffic demands and provide flexibility for research and development of improved charging pad technologies. The panels offer 40% open space to allow for debris and rainwater to disperse. DURAGRID®’s nonconductive and electromagnetic interference-free characteristics make it a safe and reliable material of choice to house, access and protect the USU SELECT charging pads.

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