Seoul, KOREA ¶ Dec 01, 2011 (Whowired) --Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) technology developed in Korea has received a green light from the city of McAllen in Texas, US, to commercialize the technology to run an OLEV bus for public transportation in the US city. The OLEV developed by KAIST was chosen as one of the "50 Best Innovations of 2010" in November last year by Time magazine.

According to an announcement today made by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which already commercialized its OLEV technology on the home turf with the introduction of an OLEV “train” in Seoul’s Grand Park in Gwacheon City, three "OLEV buses" will be run on a route in the US city's downtown area starting from 2013.

 This is the first time that a public organization overseas has decided to commercialize the "Made-in-Korea" OLEV technology in its public transportation system. McAllen's move to go OLEV is largely attributable to such aggressive support from the Federal Transit Administration'(FTA)s "go clean in its public transportation" campaign.

FTA is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems. And FTA has been supporting -- under its "Sustainability Research Project" -- a range of pilot projects and businesses regarding research on clean energy and future public transportation system.

The OLEV vehicles in Korea (currently three trains being operated), picks up electricity from power cables buried underground through a non-contact magnetic charging method and replaces a trackless combustion engine train running inside the park in Gwacheon City.

Sam Kim (press@whowired.com)