Korean road wirelessly charges new electric buses

Credit:SingularityHUB

http://singularityhub.com/2013/08/25/korean-road-wirelessly-charges-new-electric-buses/ / electric vehicles vehicle EV battery LiIon lithium ion limited range expensive batteries battery few charging stations mainstream manufacturers improve battery tech technology Korea Advanced Institute Science Technology KAIST big batteries stations station road charge vehicles new bus buses began public service Korea South Korean city Gumi bus buses online electric vehicles OLEVs OLEV travel road wireless cellphone charging mat 7.5 miles cost $4 million to build bus buses inductively charged route 180 kW power sources periodically embedded road KAIST 5% 15% already existing road needs to be rebuilt to convert it into a wireless charger charge charging power source connects connect grid selectively turned on or off as a bus approaches leaves source produces magnetic field wirelessly transfers energy receiver under underneath bus magnetic field converted back electric current sent battery motor approach first developed researchers University of California Berkeley scientists worried strong electromagnetic fields adverse health effects abandoned idea problem KAIST solved vehicles fall within international standards for health and safety buses convert up to 85% power sent from embedded source batteries about a third the size of a typical electric car battery reduce reducing weight cost needn’t ever stop to charge wireless power transmission has a long history Nikola Tesla godfather wireless power wanted send electricity wirelessly from central power stations using giant Tesla coils coil filed patent inductive electric railway system ideas didn’t catch on our thoroughly wired world is testament dream wireless power new market in electric vehicles public transportation fleet inductively charged buses streets Turin Genoa Italy for over a decade Italian buses aren’t charged along their route KAIST buses Korean system unique /