In South Korea appeared electric buses with wireless charging

The future is really approaching very quickly, at least the future that has been described in many science fiction novels. For example, a couple of days ago electric buses appeared in South Korea (something like trolleybuses, but with a wireless power line). So far, there are only two such vehicles, and they ply the streets of Gumi. It is worth noting that this type of vehicle is the “native” development of the South Korean research institute, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's (KAIST).

The system itself is called Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), and the principle of operation of OLEV is quite simple. Under the road surface, cables are laid that allow the electric bus to receive energy "through the air", it is something like an induction charger. In order for energy to enter, it is necessary that there is a gap of about 20 centimeters between the bottom of the bus and the road.



In this case, the laying of cables does not require opening the entire canvas. As far as you can understand, only 5-15% of the road should be torn to lay the cable. Induction charger solves the problem of finding capacious and large batteries for this type of vehicle. Thanks to OLEV, relatively small batteries are installed in the buses, which are enough for the normal movement of the electric bus.

The developers claim that the efficiency of such a system is 85%, which is very good. The developers also note that all the characteristics of the electromagnetic field are within normal limits, and nothing is threatening people walking along such a road or riding on an electric bus.

By 2015, it is planned to launch another 10 such electric buses.

Via gizmag