The beloved tram cars on the Wildwoods Boardwalk are getting a modern upgrade just in time for their 78th summer season.<\/p>\n
Three new, fully electric Volvo EX-40 vehicles are being added to the fleet, helping to ease the burden on older battery-powered engines \u2014 some of which date back decades and have become increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really a game changer for the tram cars and for the future of the tram cars,\u201d Patrick Rosenello of the Wildwoods Boardwalk Special Improvement District said.<\/p>\n
The new vehicles are expected to operate alongside five existing tram cars, shifting daily operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way we’re set up will be the three Volvos full time out there and five trams,\u201d said Ken Douglass, the tram car maintenance manager.<\/p>\n
The upgrade is designed to preserve the iconic boardwalk experience while bringing it into the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something that is aimed at preserving the tram car experience on the Wildwoods Boardwalk and also modernizing it a little bit so that it really lasts for future generations,\u201d Rosenello said.<\/p>\n
The electric vehicles are also expected to be more efficient. Officials say they can run for a couple of days before needing a charge, compared to the older batteries that last about half a day. Those older batteries weigh more than 2,000 pounds and must be removed to be plugged in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf one of them goes bad, they’re thousands of dollars to replace a battery,\u201d Douglass said.<\/p>\n
Despite the change, the signature sound of the tram cars will remain, even as the new electric vehicles travel at a maximum speed of eight miles per hour.<\/p>\n
The Volvo vehicles come at no cost to the self-sustaining organization that operates the tram cars, which does not receive government funding. <\/p>\n
The new Volvo vehicles are set to arrive Saturday, about two weeks before Memorial Day weekend. They will tow trailers featuring advertisements for the automaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite frankly, too good of an opportunity for us to turn down,\u201d Rosenello said.<\/p>\n
The partnership between the tram cars and Volvo came as a surprise and was sparked by a Volvo executive having personal ties to the Wildwoods. <\/p>\n
Volvo\u2019s American headquarters is based in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
The addition marks a pivotal step forward for one of the Jersey Shore\u2019s most recognizable attractions, blending tradition with new technology as the busy summer season approaches.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The beloved tram cars on the Wildwoods Boardwalk are getting a modern upgrade just in time for their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45676,915,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-188307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-cape-may-county","tag-new-jersey","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}