OLEV Technologies

Founded in 2011, OLEV Technologies, Inc. is a Boston, Massachusetts-based company established to commercialize innovative wireless charging technology for heavy-duty electric vehicles (EVs). OLEV Technologies, Inc. is the exclusive licensee of the Shaped Magnetic Field in Resonance (SMFIR™) technology and the On-Line Electric Vehicle (OLEV®) wireless EV charging system, which were originally developed at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and were awarded Time Magazine's 50 Best Inventions of the Year 2010. The technology has been successfully demonstrated on buses at the KAIST campus since 2009. The first commercial deployment of the OLEV wireless charging technology was put into operation in July 2011 at Seoul Grand Park, where three 100-passenger trams provide daily shuttle services to visitors at a theme park near Seoul, South Korea. Since then, additional commercial deployments went into service at locations such as the World Expo site, Yeosu and Jeju Island in South Korea during 2012. In August of 2103, OLEV began providing service to the City of Gumi in South Korea with two buses that continue to run a 24 km inner city route. The buses receive 100 kW electricity at an 85% maximum power transmission efficiency rate while maintaining a 17cm air gap between the underbody of the vehicle and the road surface. OLEV has greatly improved its inductive technology from the early development stage by increasing its power transmission density by more than three times. The size and weight of the power pickup modules have been reduced as well, resulting in greater efficiency.