South Korea to Implement Wireless Charging Road Lanes By 2030
Technology like this make sense for Korea to pursue, however I hope they realize windmills are not going to be able to power this initiative:
The Korean government is planning to build electrified roads that can recharge the batteries of cars and trucks that run fast on them by 2030.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Oct. 18 that it has established the Road Technology Development Strategy (2021-2030) to realize a plan to build future roads incorporating such technologies as data, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT).
The strategy aims to achieve four goals – reduction of the number of deaths by traffic accidents by 30 percent, lowering traffic congestion by 30 percent, cutting road maintenance costs by 30 percent, and reduction of road noises by 20 percent and harmful substances by 15 percent.
First of all, the ministry will begin to develop self-heating and light-emitting lanes using solar energy, and prevent traffic accidents by enabling drivers to recognize lanes even during heavy snow and heavy rains. In addition, the ministry will implement a project to protect drivers and pedestrians from pollutants such as fine dust by applying pollutant adsorption and self-decomposition technology to road pavements.
The ministry plans to develop wireless electric charging technology so that electric vehicles can run on the road at high speed while being wirelessly recharged. “Researchers at the Korea Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) are currently conducting research and development on wireless recharging technology,” a ministry official said.
Business Korea
You can read more at the link.
This will totally improve traffic in South Korea. I mean, the construction won’t impact anyone’s commute, the taking away a lane for electrics only won’t slow anyone else, and South Koreans all celebrate sharing the road with each other, so changing lanes will be a breeze…
This is brilliant!
The weak point of electric cars is that the current electric grid cannot handle 50 million people charging their cars at home.
However, incorporating wireless charging on highways on a parallel purpose-designed electric grid is a great idea… charging vehicles that need it most and reducing the chance of running out of juice.
It will be interesting to see how users will be billed. All the obvious ways have serious downsides.
Bonus Question: Will I need to install ActiveX for my electric vehicle to access it?
CH, if it’s like most forms of Central Planning, all South Koreans will be supporting this with increased taxes, regardless of whether they own any vehicle, much less an electric one.
And there will be, to paraphrase Sidney Greenstreet’s character in Casablanca, “carrying charges”…
Pun intendd.
Setnaffa, there are some reasonable macroeconomic arguments that the return on taxes would be a beneficial net gain for all Koreans.
Korea has a pretty good track record of building infrastructure that benefits the population both economically and quality of life.
Electric vehicles provide more distance per energy than internal combustion vehicles. The math is unknown but intuition says the cost of gradual change to electric vehicles and the infrastructure to maximize their potential will pay for itself by keeping more money in Korea instead of buying foreign oil.
Electric vehicles can be powered by cheaper coal (especially if you don’t pay anybody for CO2 emissions (for which money is taken but nothing is done)). Massive advances in technology and scale over the last few years have made wind power cheaper than coal. Nuclear, even with insurance and reprocessing, is also cheaper than coal.
All money that stays in Korea, such as domestic wind power manufacture and upkeep, instead of going to foreign energy suppliers, raise the quality of life for Koreans.
Less pollution is a bonus.
There are a lot of reasons to believe this is a good goal.
CH, you lost me at “the math is unknown”. The Gartner Group once stated “making changes without metrics is called tampering.”
Your reasoning could be correct; but u til Korea adopts a cleaner technology for their coal-powered electricity generation, I remain skeptical. Not to mention the disposal of toxic waste from the manufacture and disposal of batteries.
Wind power kills more birds than coal plants.
Nuclear plants are so heavily regulated that new ones can’t be built until the norks take over, and then won’t be used primarily for civilian electricity.
Other than that, we mostly agree that south Koreans will be more heavily-taxed. And they will be made to like it.
Most of solar panels etc come from china. Will benefit china mostly. This will work as well as solar roads and project will be used to hide bribe money. https://interestingengineering.com/solar-roadways-engineering-failure
Electic cars. Rape the earth for minerals…mostly from china …to build a car fueled from a coal fired power plant, requires burdensome infrastructure, and disposal of batteries will pollute the earth for thousands of years. Great idea. Here is a story about what it takes to put out one that catches fire…https://www.foxnews.com/auto/firefighters-dunk-smoking-150000-electrified-bmw-in-tank-of-liquid-to-extinguish-it
Electric cars seems like a good idea. They will keep improving and getting cheaper. I dislike gas stations. Teachers used to warn us that unless we did our homework, we’d end up pumping gas; I didn’t do my homework, and now I’m pumping gas for myself every week.
Korean companies are leaders in battery technology. SK is building a huge facility just north of Atlanta to produce electric veh8cle batteries.
“CH, you lost me at “the math is unknown”.”
I shall restate: The exact math is unknown to me… but it is rather obvious the exact math will verify this is the correct course of action and will quantify how much.
“but u til Korea adopts a cleaner technology for their coal-powered electricity generation, I remain skeptical.”
Coal is fine. Its energy is cheaper than oil… and electricity is more efficient than gasoline for vehicles… so the amount of money leaving Korea will be less. Renewable electricity generation is an added bonus.
“Not to mention the disposal of toxic waste from the manufacture and disposal of batteries.”
This is a boogeyman that can be managed.
“Wind power kills more birds than coal plants.”
Ho-hum. All birds in Korea are disposable and replaceable. The habitat will remain at carrying capacity due to less competition and migration.
“Nuclear plants are so heavily regulated that new ones can’t be built until the norks take over, and then won’t be used primarily for civilian electricity.”
Not sure where you got that idea… South Korea has a new reactor coming online every year from 2021 to 2024. While the current government talks about phasing out nuclear and increasing gas and renewable, that may be a gust of popular feeling when faced with the reality of demands and costs and national goals.
“Other than that, we mostly agree that south Koreans will be more heavily-taxed. And they will be made to like it.”
A future administration will return to financial responsibility… generating tax money through encouraging productivity and prosperity rather than promoting dependence financed by debt. Korean do not fully have the entitlement mentality that so many Americans have. Korean expectation of government entitlement is modern infrastructure and competent services rather than a cash replacement for refusal to study, lack of desire to work, and compensation for poor life decisions.
“Most of solar panels etc come from china. Will benefit china mostly. This will work as well as solar roads and project will be used to hide bribe money.”
Wind, rather than solar, is where the action is. With amazing tidal movement in the East Sea, that should also be a focus.
“Electic cars. Rape the earth for minerals…mostly from china”
All cars rape the earth for minerals. EV (electric vehicles) have so many advantages over ICE (internal combustion engine), it is the obvious next step in vehicle evolution.
“to build a car fueled from a coal fired power plant”
Again, coal (plus renewable) to electricity to motion is a more efficient and economical pathway than gasoline/diesel to motion.
“requires burdensome infrastructure”
No it doesn’t. If Henry Ford asked the customer what they wanted, they would have said “faster horses”. It simply requires an evolution in infrastructure… just like parking lots and gas stations replaced hitching posts and water troughs. In reality, the logistics of delivering gasoline to gas stations is far more inefficient and burdensome than delivering electricity to cars while they drive.
“and disposal of batteries will pollute the earth for thousands of years.”
Or it will be managed like every other technology that generates waste.
“Here is a story about what it takes to put out one that catches fire…”
And that, too, will be solved as wider adoption of electric cars will bring the necessity that drives invention.
You all sound like a bunch of whiney Luddites looking for excuses and rationalizations why we need to stick with early 1900s engine technology.
“Whaaaa! Nobody can get electrocuted if we stick to this cheap, renewable whale oil!”
I begin to sense where CH has been funneling his vast wealth now that government gangs are muscling in on his previous proprietary projects.
I still disagree with the economic aspects, based simply on what I’ve seen in Texas (where Austin is full of wide-eyed poindexters and would-be boffins selling giant fans to gullible clients–at proportional profits).
Without a business plan that includes startup, maintenance, and disposal costs, it is impossible to make an informed choice. Thus, based on the actions of the free market, I assume the smart money is still on internal combustion rather than electric.
Tesla has been predicted to be out of business before Musk gets his Mars Rocket built. We’ll see. Trump was predicted to lose in a landslide to She Who Must Not Be Named.
We need the math. All the rest is fads and fashion. Like those white socks with the fancy label all the Korean guys in business suits wore back in the early to mid-90s. Now you can’t find ’em.
Transitioning to electric cars in Korea makes perfect sense to me because of how small the country is. There is not much range anxiety. Plus in a smaller country adding charging lanes to the infrastructure will not be as expensive. I just believe they have to keep developing their nuclear power industry to power it.
As far as the U.S. the switch to electric cars is going to be far more challenging just because of the vast distances which further feeds range anxiety. There are electric cars going about 300 miles a charge and that can’t even get you across many western states without needing a recharge. Range and more & quicker charging stations have to be developed before electric cars really catch on in the U.S. This could take a very long time.
At only 300 milss a pop, an electric would require recharging at least twice between Dallas and El Paso… and there might not be very many places to do so…
The other thing is that the charging needs to happen quicker like 5 minute charges which currently technology is no where near getting to. The other would be at the charging station they just completely swap out an uncharged battery for a fully charged one. Once again the technology is no where near making this feasible yet.
” …lowering traffic congestion by 30 percent”
They can reach this goal by teaching and enforcing lane discipline (keep right except to pass), and by enforcement of existing no-parking zones. Most 4-lane roads in the cities and towns here are really two lane roads, with the other two lanes blocked by illegally parked cars.