Evolve

The Minimalistic Guide to Electric Powered Public Transportation

When you think of an electric vehicle, you picture a sexy car (given you like Tesla) which won’t make any sounds. And that’ll label us “environment-friendly” in our neighborhood! But you have to go through the hassle of charging it over and over again, the same way we put fuel in our diesel/petrol cars. As those batteries are expensive, that blocks the entry of electric vehicles in public transportation.

south korea electric vehicle olev
South Korea was the first to use the road powered electric vehicles for public transportation. – Image Source

Welcome to the new age of transportation

Consider the case, what if you drive your diesel/petrol vehicle it gets fuel from the road itself. That sounds superficial even by fairy tale standards, right? Just it happens, that is the case with the new age of electric vehicles. They get charged wirelessly from the cables underneath the road.

This is not a new idea though. Passing electricity wirelessly has been around since the time of Thomas Edison. When Nicolas Tesla discovered ways to transfer electricity wirelessly. The basics are the same as they are for wireless phone chargers. We have come a long way to do it on a large scale.

Wondering how it road powered electric vehicle works?

The power is transmitted wirelessly via Shaped Magnetic Field in Resonance. Essentially, the cables below the road carry the power of 100 kW at a frequency of 20 kHz. Creating a 20 kHz electromagnet. It picks up the power, the underside of the vehicle is equipped with a pickup coil that’s tuned in to pick that exact frequency of 20 kHz. All this happens at an efficiency of 85% which is really impressive. The best part is not all the road needs to be electrified just small portions like 5-15%.

electric truck elektrisarvik
Electric vehicles are making great strides in becoming the dominant force. – Image Source

Electric vehicles have a solid future

Because the road is providing the power, the batteries can be lighter. Thus, less power consumption and drastically cutting the chances of power failure. This model is already power among science-friendly nations. South Korea already has a couple of these RPEVs(Road Powered Electric Vehicle) running. Israel is planning to run one connecting its biggest city to the airport. And United Nations is calculating the feasibility of this model.

The low costs and efficient model can help this model to grow on a larger scale in no time. Despite that, I want a time when whenever I walk, my phone and laptop gets charged automatically. Now that’ll be awesome.