Electric vehicles still have limited range, expensive batteries, and few charging stations. While mainstream manufacturers seek to improve battery tech, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has a different idea. Who needs big batteries and stations when the road itself can charge vehicles? In July, two new buses began public service in the South Korean city, Gumi. The buses, or online electric vehicles (OLEVs), travel a road like a wireless cellphone charging mat—only, this particular mat is 7.5 miles long and cost $4 million to build. singularityhub/2013/08/25/korean-road-wirelessly-charges-new-electric-buses/ Its the same technology used to charge phones and toothbrushes wirelessly, but used on a much larger scale. In public transit, induction relies on magnetic charge plates beneath roadways and a counterpart inside the bus. When an induction-capable bus passes over that charging plate, the two magnets become “tuned,” and current flows to charge the on-board battery. Though the route is about 15 miles, the buses will be able to use batteries about a third the size of what you’d find in an electric car — far smaller and lighter than what a conventionally charged electric bus would require. With a 6.7-inch gap between the road and the bus, there’s 85 percent charging efficiency at 100 kW from the road to the bus. wired/2013/08/induction-charged-buses/ Online Electric Vehicle Technology Website olevtech/ Video Reposted from: itersnews/
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 20:30:00 +0000
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