Wi-Fi1’s electric bus wireless charging service has been approved for demonstration

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the 12th New Technology and Service Deliberation Committee and deliberated on eight regulatory sandbox tasks. Among them, Wi-Fi1’s electric bus wireless charging service has been approved for demonstration.
KAIST developed the world’s first wireless charging electric bus in 2009, which was selected by Time as the “World’s 50 Inventions” in 2010. Charging automatically occurs when the electric bus runs or stops.
Y Power One has applied for a special demonstration for a service that uses 85 kHz frequency to charge wirelessly whenever an electric bus passes or stops at a bus stop. After attaching a wireless charging device (receiving unit) to an electric bus, it is charged through a wireless charging device (transmission unit) buried under the bus stop.

The main purpose of this business agreement is to reduce the burden of charging when using electric vehicles by providing charging services when customers choose the desired time and place on the mobile application page without having to go to a charging station.
In accordance with the business agreement, GS Caltex’s corporate customers who use electric vehicles will be charged. In the future, electric vehicles of GS Caltex’s corporate customers will be able to use KEPCO’s 8,600 charging infrastructure nationwide.
GS Caltex plans to provide various services such as car washing and maintenance to gas stations to corporate customers who use KEPCO’s charging facilities.
The situation is similar in Chuncheon, where more than 300 hydrogen cars have already been supplied by providing the largest subsidies in the country.

It is 160km round trip to the charging station, and even if it is inconvenient to wait for an hour or two to charge, the construction of the charging station in Dongnae-myeon, Chuncheon-si, has been suspended due to opposition from residents.

“We have pushed for the construction of eight charging stations since 2018, but only one has been installed due to opposition from residents,” a provincial official said. “Of the remaining seven, one has canceled the construction plan and six are persuading the need to install it.”

He added, “However, of the three charging stations in the province promoted by the Korea Expressway Corporation, the Chuncheon Rest Area on the Jungang Expressway is under construction within this year, and the other two are under construction next year.”
It will also push for a project to jointly develop a system so that GS Caltex and KEPCO’s electric vehicle charging platforms can be linked. It plans to enable customers of each company to cross-use charging cards by making it possible to pay for electric vehicles that are not currently convertible.

GS Caltex said, “We expect the convenience of customers using electric vehicles to increase through partnership with KEPCO,” adding, “We will speed up the expansion of the ecosystem of electric vehicles and continue to cooperate with related industries.”

Kia Motors will first operate a demonstration project to verify the efficiency of the service for five months from November to March next year. The service targets customers who use Kia’s electric vehicles, Soul EV and Niro EV, as “Deal Car,” a car sharing service operated by Hyundai Capital in Jeju.

The demonstration is blocked by the current seven regulations, making it impossible to conduct a demonstration project. Currently, 85 kHz frequency bands are not distributed for electric bus wireless charging under the radio wave law, and conformance evaluation is impossible for broadcasting and communication equipment that presupposes frequency distribution. In addition, the tuning approval requirements for the installation of wireless charging devices on electric buses are unclear, and the road burial depth and criteria for wireless chargers are also are unclear. It is unclear whether the wireless charger type approval requirements and products subject to safety confirmation are also unclear, and whether YPower One is subject to registration of new electricity business.
Recognizing the importance of wireless charging electric buses, the deliberation committee granted a special demonstration to demonstrate seven wireless charging electric buses for two years on the circular electric bus route of Daedeok R&D Special Zone in Daejeon.