Author Topic: Forget wireless power for phones - Korea's doing it for BUSES (Read 1101 times)

silicon_toad2000 · « **on:** February 15, 2013, 06:35:04 am »

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/14/electric_road/

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The technology is coming from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and is little more than an extensive field trial. It should see electric buses able to drive around without relying on huge batteries or overhead wires, and while installation is expensive the technology could make electric cars viable too.

Wireless charging for vehicles is something various companies have played with, but just like wireless charging for electronics it only starts to address the problem when the charging points multiply to the point of ubiquity. Placing a phone on a pad, or parking a car in a specific spot, is not much easier than plugging in a cable, but if the charging can take place during normal use then things do change.

Korea will be using a home-grown OLEV (On-Line Electric Vehicle) technology on its two buses, but Qualcomm has the same idea in mind for its Halo charging technology which will start off with its Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) later this year with special parking spaces around London's Silicon Roundabout. WEVC's stated aim is to eventually get itself embedded into the road surface to recharge cars as they drive.

White Stripes · « **Reply #1 on:** February 20, 2013, 03:08:39 am »

buses i understand but how are they going to get the car users to pay for the power they use?

silicon_toad2000 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 20, 2013, 05:44:43 am »

I'm sure they'll figure it out, get everyone hooked and jack up the price.
Imagine you've just spent 10's of thousands on a car that will work on this thing, suddenly the prices go up.
Maybe the electric companies are getting into the same game as the oil companies.

Hooked · « **Reply #3 on:** February 20, 2013, 08:52:21 am »

Has anybody looked at where we get electricity from? Clean energy is a little known misnomer. ...also, supply and demand. I work with a guy who is very proud of his electric truck that he retrofitted. Loves the free charge when he goes grocery shopping, etc.,. What would happen should we all drive the electric buggy?

silicon_toad2000 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 20, 2013, 10:56:06 am »

yeah zero emissions my buttocks, its just shifting emissions from the road to the power plants.
although with the inefficiencies of the power plants my understanding is if they are operating at low capacity, they use similar fuel as though they were operating at a higher load.