Its inventors believe that this is the future of urban transport but it was hard not to be underwhelmed as the test vehicle trundled around a circuit on the edge of the South Korean capital.
The first public demonstration of the Online Electric Vehicle, or Olev, was, however, as much about the road on which it travelled as the prototype bus itself. Electric power strips have been buried 30cm (12in) under the surface and connected to the national grid.
They provide electromagnetic power to the vehicle, wirelessly, charging an onboard battery and powering the buss electric motor. The power strips need to be embedded in only 20 per cent of the length of a road to keep the vehicle running.
The systems creators, at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, say that the technology not only eliminates pollution, but also alleviates the problems usually associated with hybrid vehicles such as heavy batteries, lengthy charging and limited range.
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