Korea starts testing 'recharging road,' might make it part of its public transport system
By Vlad Savov 
posted March 10th 2010 8:42AM
posted March 10th 2010 8:42AM
Time to set aside the chains of worry that have prevented us from jumping on the electric bandwagon -- Korean researchers have figured out a way to make us forget all about charging stations and cruising ranges with their magnetically recharging road. The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) you see here went into service yesterday and can now be found towing three bus-loads of tourists around a Seoul amusement park. It operates on a battery five times smaller than conventional EV juice packs and can collect its power through non-contact magnetic transmission from the recharging strips in the ground. We're also told running costs for this system are a third of what a typical EV would require, and should it prove successful and find itself expanded to the public transport system, only about 20 percent of bus routes would need to be electrified -- at bus stops, crossroads and the like -- with the rest being covered by the power stored inside the OLEV. Here's to hoping it all works out.
Would the amount of energy drawn from the cars passing the road make the cars slightly slower? im sure it will be like 1% but thats 1% more fuel wasted in gas. I would say this would only be effective only on down hill and stop sections, and if limited to that then this would get a cool point :)
@NeatOman Except it wouldn't waste gas, as this is an EV. Just like a gas engine, its not 100% efficient, but its a step forward.
@Nitesh
I think NeatOman is referring to things like eddy currents in the (non-EV) cars as anything with a reasonably large ferro-metal (as present in most engines) will induce a field which will generate a current in the engine block... resulting in resistance when passing through the magnetic field.
@Sheldon Ah, I read it wrong then.
CHI CHI.. PO..PO!
Seems like a pretty clever solution; the price of batteries the size electric cars require are still prohibitively high, with this system you wouldn't need batteries that large.
Anytime you can use energy directly rather than having to store it first, you gain efficiency.
I do wonder, aside from the but-ugly bus they're using, how is this different than all of those public buses and electric trains in SanFrancisco? Oh, those don't have batteries?? Hmm. Innovative!
@dkavanagh
it's really not, this looks exactly the same as trolleybus technology, except that the power source is under the road instead of above it. not very impressive imo
@(Unverified) Well, the current trolleys need to be constantly physically connected to the grid
Since the power doesn't need to be connected constantly, buses can also be much more flexible with their routes, whereas trolleys need to strictly follow its route
Would it be prius compatible?
Nevermind, it might do 84 even with the brakes on
@brown like dookie
I think you mean photoshop in Lee Myung-Bak. He may not be as popular as The Il, but he is the president of South Korea.
Am I the only one who immediately started thinking about F-Zero?
@Q3Km518 Nope. ;)
@Q3Km518
Same here, get your power before you explode! ahaha
@Q3Km518 FALCON...recharge?
Potential EMF concerns here?
@jsjohnson
Especially for someone walking around with a pacemaker. Granny's heart just flat lined on the blue line...
@brown like dookie Wrong Korea.
The only issue here is the much larger land mass. Very cool.
I see no difference between this and a trolleybus except for less wires...
Korea's roads are built by SCVs, Probes, and Drones. Lots of competition. Tough competition.
Another amazing technology with great potential that will never become a reality.
@Yankee
Just watch...some genius will find a way to use that magnetic induction(?) to power his gadgets resulting in a new breed of a "self-charging" devices :D
can i charge my phone on it too?
Nice to see at least some countries can think ahead.
@Hazdaz
I thought of this too a long time ago and I live in the US. It's similar in concept to a Maglev, except sort of inverted. It's not that the thought didn't occur to someone, it's that the powers that be decided it was not in their best interests economically.
Personally, I think they should have a powered vehicle with a magnet at the bottom, travel over a roadway which has been fitted with electrical wires, such that it induces a current in the wires, which is collected at the end of the wires. You can recharge later. The concept is basically a large motor.
Me, I just brain storm this stuff. I'm not interested in marketing my ideas.
@Please forgive me
The issue that I have is that a country like Korea will drop government money to fund research into this. They will have fostered an industry that they can then market to other countries. So because of their forethought they will create jobs for their people and ultimately create a product that can be exported to other nations.
Almost any time something as innovative as this gets proposed in the US, you always, always, always have these backwards-thinking naysayers that don't want to spend taxpayer money on it or anything else. So we end up with the shit mess we are in today in which tons and tons of technologies were invented here, but developed and perfected elsewhere and now we are paying those other countries for services that should have been home-grown.
Look at how far behind we have fallen in technologies like high-speed rail or renewable energy technology like wind or solar. Those are all high-paying jobs that could have been here... instead if there are any future high-speed rail systems installed in the US, we have to look to foreign companies and foreign workers.
@Hazdaz
I know and I agree with you. But like I said, there is a particular economic interest at work which does not really care about making life viable for the working class, they want to make as much money as possible. I guess what I was saying is that I don't believe it's a mistake, I think it's intentional.
Recharging strips? OK, F-Zero...
They should expand that to phones, computers to any electronics devices. hm.... via a small charger that you just plug into your phone. its a good idea for robots, so they dont have to go recharge every hour, and it would be even better if you could somehow pass information through that wireless "thing".
We already have very cheap mass transit road going electric vehicles that do not even require any batteries at all - they are called trolleybuses...
Isn't the only solution for S. Korea additional pylons?
people missing the point, this is all about wireless power on a grander scale. Imagine a future where all roads are like this. No need for gas as it's power everywhere.
Different than trolleys as they can go outside of their designated route and come back later. Let me see a trolley do that.
Tram
I think this is a good step forward.
I think this technology has been around for awhile...
Two words: Rail Gun
Nice idea. Here in Athens, Greece, we have many trolley buses covering the area. One advantage of this system would be that the arms leading to the wires would not bounce off and the driver would have to readjust them. This happens with the relatively new Vanhools (Dutch made) and the old 1960s Ziu 9 (Russian Buses) and the Alfa Romeos from the 1950s that were replaced in the 00's. The new buses also have a diesel engine for backup. With this, all you need is a largish battery and it would need less maintenance than the overhead wires. I wouldn't worry about the eddy currents. Athenian traffic never goes more than 10 km/h.
This is a perfect fit for that rapidly-growing category: "if it can be done, it will be done—whether or not it makes any sense". Like trying to shoot down missiles with lasers, as another pathetic example. Or cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells, wireless gadget chargers, 3D TV, publicly-funded health care...
Not saying this won't work, but it is a pretty big leap going from amusement park tram to public transportation. Disney's Monorail was also supposed to revolutionize public transportation. See how well that worked out.
This is exactly what I've been talking about for the last couple years... Now imagine using Witricity, solar road surfaces, and ev cars that send/receive energy to/from the solar collecting road...
It would do for cars what the internet did for computers. can you imagine a computer without the internet these days?
Just don't wear the wrong pair of shoes to the amusement park!
This is kind of the stuff that runs through my kind of practical dreams. Except, instead of magnets used for energy, I was thinking about cars being levitated by magnets.
@captc501
Me too. :)
This is amazing, Korea's public transport system is one step ahead and environment friendly