Online Electric Vehicle

OLEV bus in service

Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) is an electric vehicle using electromagnetic induction. On Tuesday, 9 March 2010 researchers from The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) launched a public transport system^[1] using a "recharging road". Electric power strips have been buried 30 cm (11.8 in) under the road surface and connected to the national grid. Pick-up equipment underneath the vehicle then collects power through non-contact magnetic induction which is used either to power the vehicle prime-mover or for battery charging. The demonstration system is a trackless train with an electric tractor hauling three passenger cars.

Gumi has the world's first wireless electric bus in operation from March 2014 developed by KAIST. Electricity is wirelessly fed into the bus from the tracks underneath the road.^[2][3]

Earlier systems

The Korean system has developed technology that was pioneered in California in the 1990s, and claims to have overcome several problems including shielding users from the potentially harmful effects of electro-magnetic radiation.

A similar system, for tramcars, was patented in 1894 by Nikola Tesla, US Patent 514972.^[4] but it was not developed at the time.

Patents

The state-funded institute announced it has applied for more than 120 patents^[5] in connection with OLEV.

Recognition

In November 2010, KAIST's Road-Embedded Rechargers was selected as Time's The 50 Best Inventions of 2010.^[6][7]

See also

• Gyrobus
• Inductive charging of electric vehicles
• ABB TOSA Flash Mobility, Clean City, Smart Bus^[8]

References

1. Andrew Salmon, Seou (First published 2010-03-09). "Korea unveils the ‘future of transport’ — the Online Electric Vehicle". London: The Independent Newspaper. Retrieved 2010-07-20. Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Hankyoreh
3. OLEV
4. Patent 514972
5. Salmon, Andrew (2010-03-09). "S.Korea unveils 'recharging road' for eco-friendly buses". The Times (London). Retrieved 2010-07-20.
6. "KAIST's Road-Embedded Recharger Named Among Best Inventions of 2010". The Chosun Ilbo. 2010-11-15. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
7. Rachelle Dragani (2010-11-11). "Road-Embedded Rechargers - The 50 Best Inventions of 2010 - TIME". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
8. TOSA2013 The project aims to introduce a new system of mass transport with electric “flash” recharging of the buses at selected stops (overhead conductive charging)

External links

• Fuel for Thought (BBC)