A charging system for an electric vehicle has an elongate enclosure having a plurality of sides and an at least partially open side. The enclosure defines a hollow interior. The charging system further includes a conductor rail disposed in the hollow interior and that is accessible through the at least partially open side of the enclosure. The conductor rail may be placed in electric communication with an electrical power source and thereby may be selectively placed in electrical communication with an electrical connector of an electric vehicle. The charging system may conduct electric current from the electrical power source to an electric power supply of the electric vehicle.

A drive arrangement for moving a body along a path with respect to first and second media guides, the first media guide conveying a medium at a first velocity along the path and the second media guide conveying the medium at a second velocity different to the first velocity along the path, the drive arrangement being configured to (a) interact with the medium of the first media guide so as to extract energy therefrom and thereby develop a reaction force against the first media guide for driving the body to move along the path, and (b) interact with the medium of the second media guide by means of energy extracted from the medium of the first media guide so as to develop a reaction force against the second media guide for driving the body to move along the path.

A charging system for an electric vehicle has an elongate enclosure having a plurality of sides and an at least partially open side. The enclosure defines a hollow interior. The charging system further includes a conductor rail disposed in the hollow interior and that is accessible through the at least partially open side of the enclosure. The conductor rail may be placed in electric communication with an electrical power source and thereby may be selectively placed in electrical communication with an electrical connector of an electric vehicle. The charging system may conduct electric current from the electrical power source to an electric power supply of the electric vehicle.

In one embodiment, a propulsion system includes roaming vehicles including a reaction plate installed on a bottom of each of the roaming vehicles, a surface stator matrix installed with a running surface for the roaming vehicles and including single sided linear induction motors (SSLIMs). Each of the SSLIMs include two windings installed orthogonally to one another. The propulsion system also includes motor drives configured to electrically couple to the SSLIMs via a switching panel, and a control system configured to receive information related to the roaming vehicles, receive a desired motion profile for the roaming vehicles across the surface stator matrix, determine which of the SSLIMs to activate and a performance of the SSLIMs based on the desired motion profile, the information, or some combination thereof, and send control signals to the motor drives to control the SSLIMs to produce the motion profile.

In one embodiment, a propulsion system includes roaming vehicles including a reaction plate installed on a bottom of each of the roaming vehicles, a surface stator matrix installed with a running surface for the roaming vehicles and including single sided linear induction motors (SSLIMs). Each of the SSLIMs include two windings installed orthogonally to one another. The propulsion system also includes motor drives configured to electrically couple to the SSLIMs via a switching panel, and a control system configured to receive information related to the roaming vehicles, receive a desired motion profile for the roaming vehicles across the surface stator matrix, determine which of the SSLIMs to activate and a performance of the SSLIMs based on the desired motion profile, the information, or some combination thereof, and send control signals to the motor drives to control the SSLIMs to produce the motion profile.