Wirelessly Powered Electric Busses Launched in South Korea

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OLEV Bus – Innovative Electric Vehicle for Public Transportation -4KAIST, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has established an Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) system. It is an electric vehicle which is provided energy by the road while stationary or moving. The power is supplied to such electric vehicles by the cables fixed in the road. A permanent direct connection is not needed by these cables in order to charge the vehicle. As an alternative, a magnetic field is created which is converted into electrical energy by the devices carried on the bus.  Lots of components that are present in almost every electric vehicle currently, for instance, heavy batteries, overhead trolley lines are left out due to this particular feature. In addition to this, these busses are not required to stop for recharging. The limited range is a drawback of these vehicles as they cannot ride on the side of the road that supports them.

All images are courtesy of Technocrazed Media

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OLEV_Principle

The bus will be given 20 kHz and 100 kW (136 horsepower) electricity at an 85% maximum power transmission efficiency while keeping a distance of 17cm (6.7 inch) between the bus floor and the asphalt. 5% to 15% of the entire road surface needs to be rebuilt with the embedded cables.

 

 

OLEV Bus – Innovative Electric Vehicle for Public Transportation -2Formerly, this technology was successfully tested in a tramcar at an amusement park in Seoul.  Now, two OLEV buses are being tested which run between the train station and In-dong district in the city of Gumi, South Korea. This network entails 24km (15 miles) of road.

The cables in the road only turn on when they sense an OLEV approaching and the intensity of electromagnetic field is well within limits enforced by international EMF standards. These features have been anticipated to lessen the exposure of pedestrians and other vehicles to the magnetic fields and will also look after the wastage of energy.

 

OLEV Bus – Innovative Electric Vehicle for Public Transportation -3

South Korea road

If the busses running at the moment do not cause any problem, 10 more busses are expected to be put into operation.

12 comments

  1. elaine newby Reply

    What of exposure to electromagnetic radiation for prolonged periods and at what intensity? Would like to see the animal studies on this … eg for commuters with 2-4 hr commutes daily (ie 1-2 hours each way is common in Australia). Shielding for pasengers has been suggested – but what of pedestrians walking beside the under-road track? The buses also cant move off the track under the road – so what happens when there is an accident (or an emergency vehicle)where they have to move over? What of the cars that pass over the underground ‘track’? Or travel along it? What of their protection? Background radiation surely is of a different magnitude – better to (as radiographers do) compare radiation with ‘background daily exposure’ so that people know that an Xray v MRI v diferent scans and treatments etc.

  2. MD Jalaluddin Reply

    Fabulose work by Engineers.!
    Realy great technology introduced 2 world.

  3. Maris Reply

    I would not recommend to ride on these buses because of electromagnetic field. It’s like ride in microwave oven.

  4. Josh Reply

    I have been talking about this for years. I’m glad someone is trying to make it a reality.

    In response to some nay-sayers…. Magnetic Fields are all around us. Even before the advent of technology, the Earth itself even projects magnetic fields…. how do you think Compasses work?

    Beyond that, I am sure that in the final versions (the one market to the world) there will be “shielding” in place at the bottom of the bus to shield you from the excess magnetic fields… even though there is little evidence that magnetic fields affect the brain in the way that has been suggested above.

    That would be like making an argument that believing in a religion leads to death… I mean it is true that everyone that believes in a religion of some sort will die at one time or another.. there is no evidence that they are linked… only that they share a constant between them. The same could be said of the argument of magnetic fields affecting the brain. I mean nearly everyone that had a brain or neurological disorder is in, or has been in, an environment where magnetic fields are prevalent… However, there is no way to currently link them with any concrete evidence proving the theory.

  5. Kaba Reply

    Is magnetic foeld good for health???

    This will destroy your neural system and brain,
    WTF ??

  6. Baaaaaaan Reply

    thats great… koreans are really good in technologies, as well as machineries… combined with magnetic technology. Immpressive. I Just Really wanna go to korea, seriously.

  7. RAM PANDEY Reply

    i like such a effective technology of south corea……..hands off to all the ENGINEERS who make it possible……

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