source: Electronics Weekly article
The gondolas in the Emirates Air Line cable car system, which crosses the Thames near the Dome, are powered by supercapacitors.
Roof-mounted, and made by Maxwell, they get a quick charge at the end station – these are located on the Greenwich Peninsula and at the Royal Docks – and then power the entertainment system on the way across.
They are rated for operation across -40 to +65°C, and for a million charge/discharge cycles.
Swiss firm CWA made the gondolas.
“A battery-based system to power all of the entertainment and passenger comfort features the operator wanted for these cabins would have been much too heavy to be practical,” said CWA marketing head Tobias Haarmann. “Ultracapacitors also require little or no maintenance and can be expected to last for a decade or more before needing to be replaced, making them a very cost-effective solution for the operator.”
Each cabin has:
- Electric-operated ventilation
- Infotainment system that can display information and videos over Wi-Fi
- Interior lighting
- Video monitoring system
- Emergency power supply
- CWA developed the energy management system that regulates the power supply.