No more gas stops for Korean buses. This is the dream – and the promise – of a group of Asian scientists who have developed the first electric charging road for public transport. In the city of Gumi - writes The Verge, an American newspaper specialized in technology - the local authorities have placed electric cables under a 25 km asphalt grid.
The system allows electricity to be transferred – magnetically and wirelessly – to special OLEV (Online Electric Vehicle) coaches. In this way, vehicles can recharge while stuck in traffic or traveling at moderate speed. The experiment appears to have been successful and the city already has plans to increase the OLEV bus fleet within two years.
The idea, developed by the Korean Institute of Science and Technology, stems from the need to use electric vehicles by getting rid of traditional batteries. Buses generally have rather small batteries – about a third of the standard ones – but, in this case, they can rely on a constant energy source placed 17 centimeters below the drive axle.
