Online Electric Vehicle System (OLEV)

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has established an Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) system. It is an electric vehicle which is provided energy by the road while stationary or moving. The power is supplied to such electric vehicles by the cables fixed in the road. A permanent direct connection is not needed by these cables in order to charge the vehicle. As an alternative, a magnetic field is created which is converted into electrical energy by the devices carried on the bus.  Lots of components that are present in almost every electric vehicle currently, for instance, heavy batteries, overhead trolley lines are left out due to this particular feature. In addition to this, these busses are not required to stop for recharging. The limited range is a drawback of these vehicles as they cannot ride on the side of the road that supports them.

The bus will be given 20 kHz and 100 kW (136 horsepower) electricity at an 85% maximum power transmission efficiency while keeping a distance of 17cm (6.7 inch) between the bus floor and the asphalt. 5% to 15% of the entire road surface needs to be rebuilt with the embedded cables. Formerly, this technology was successfully tested in a tramcar at an amusement park in Seoul.  Now, two OLEV buses are being tested which run between the train station and In-dong district in the city of Gumi, South Korea. This network entails 24km (15 miles) of road. The cables in the road only turn on when they sense an OLEV approaching and the intensity of electromagnetic field is well within limits enforced by international EMF standards. These features have been anticipated to lessen the exposure of pedestrians and other vehicles to the magnetic fields and will also look after the wastage of energy.

15 Tonne Volvo Truck Driven by A Hamster

To exhibit the lightness of its new Volvo Dynamic Steering system, Volvo Trucks has set up a publicity stunt that uses a carrot-hungry, cute and cuddly hamster. As a sequel to its previous video featuring its president Claes Nilsson performing a stunt, Volvo released another video as component of the marketing campaign for its FMX trucks, showing that its newest steering system is so simple and effortless to handle that you can steer it with just the tip of your finger!

After training little hamster Charlie for weeks, the team placed the pint-sized rodent inside a a hamster cage/wheel mounted on top of the steering wheel, making the hamster, efficiently ‘steer’ the truck as it ran. The hamster was directed by the stunt driver Seon Rogers who handled the pedals and with a carrot as bait, guided Charlie to turn truck in necessary direction.

 

Volvo set out to show that the new 15-ton FMX truck could climb to the top of a dangerously steep and narrow rough quarry in Los Tres Cunados, in northwest Spain. It was a crazy experiment, as one mistake could have proven very costly for both the driver and the hamster Charlie; not to mention the damage to the awesome truck. Without a doubt, the test wasn’t as easy as shown in the edited commercial video, but it’s still highly impressive seeing a 175-gram hamster steering a 15-tonne truck up the road.

There were a few tense moments, like when the truck hit a big rock boulder sending it crashing down into the water below, but in the end Charlie managed to steer the large vehicle across the finish line. For Volvo to release the video, you know beforehand the driver and the hamster made it alive, but it still accounts for an attention-grabbing watch. It’s definitely an inspiring commercial.