South Korea launched the first wireless electric vehicle charging technology in Seoul

The first wireless electric vehicle was put into use in Seoul Park, Gyeonggi Do, Korea in March 9th. Wu Shixun, mayor of Seoul and Suh Nam-pyo, President of the Korea Institute of higher science and technology, attended the unveiling ceremony of the vehicle in the park. The car is called OLEV, which is powered by a charging belt about 5 centimeters below the ground. This is a trial run in a theme park. The Seoul Grand Park has replaced the diesel powered shuttle train (also known as the "elephant train") with a more environmentally-friendly OLEV. The OLEV, developed by the Korean Institute of higher science and Technology (KAIST), uses a more than 400 meter long transmission band for battery charger, and the other 400 meters of the journey relies on rechargeable batteries. A special transmission belt creates a magnetic field to generate magnetic force. The magnetic force is transmitted to the vehicle in a wireless way and converted to electricity, and is then used to provide power for the car. In Seoul Grand Park, the OLEV will serve a 2.2 kilometer long circuit. Experiments show that the magnetic field used in wireless charging system is not dangerous to human health. The power of the magnetic field is minimized by segmenting technology to provide power in several parts. According to reports from Seoul, the magnetic field intensity generated during the one month trial operation in February was determined to be less than 62.5 milli Gauss's international standard.

The Seoul municipal government plans to use OLEV as part of its public bus transport system. About 30% of the demand for traffic needs to be met by buses, and the median total length of the existing bus lines in 25 areas is 90.2 kilometers. The wireless charging electric bus is undoubtedly an attractive alternative to environmental protection for Seoul. The Seoul municipal government plans to lay the foundation for introducing OLEV into the public transport system this year. In order to improve air pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Seoul plans to deploy environmentally friendly vehicles (including taxi and bus) in all public transport systems by 2020. The office cars of the municipal government will also be changed to environmentally friendly cars.