Showing posts with label South Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Korea. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
S.Korea unveils 'recharging road' for eco-friendly buses
From: http://www.physorg.com/
March 9, 2010 
(c) 2010 AFP
The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three carriages, runs along a blue line under which power strips are buried for recharging, at an amusement park in Gwacheon, south of Seoul. S.Korean researchers launched an environmentally-friendly public transport system using a "recharging road" -- with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips.
South Korean researchers Tuesday launched an environmentally friendly public transport system using a "recharging road" -- with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips.
The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three buses, went into service at an amusement park in southern Seoul. If the prototype proves successful, there are plans to try it out on a bus route in the capital.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which developed the system, says OLEV needs a battery only one-fifth the size of conventional electric vehicles and eliminates the need for major recharging.
It also avoids the need for overhead wires used to power conventional trams or trolley buses.
Guests including Seoul mayor Oh Se-Hoon and KAIST president Suh Nam-Pyo were given a 2.2-kilometre (1.4-mile) ride Tuesday around the zoo at Seoul Grand Park.
Recharging strips have been installed in four segments totalling some 400 metres along the route.
Pick-up equipment underneath OLEV collects power through non-contact magnetic charging from strips buried under the road surface. It then distributes the power either to drive the vehicle or for battery storage.
If the system is used on Seoul bus routes, underground power lines would have to be installed on only 20 percent of the route at places like bus stops, parking places and intersections, KAIST said in a statement.
The technology was first developed in a project involving the University of California (Berkeley) but KAIST said that produced no tangible results.
The state-funded institute says it has applied for more than 120 patents in connection with OLEV, which it describes as safe, clean and economical.
"Of all the world's electric vehicles, this is the most economical system," Suh told reporters, adding the operating cost is only about one-third of ordinary electric vehicles.
"The potential for application (of this technology to public transport systems) is limitless. I dare say this is one of the most significant technical gains in the 21st century," Suh said.
Suh said KAIST plans to use OLEVs to shuttle delegates at the G20 summit which Seoul will host in November.
Project director Cho Song-Ho said technical breakthroughs included an improved way of transmitting power to the pick-up device on the vehicle chassis.
Cho said a gap of at least 11 centimetres (4.4 inches) was needed to take account of bumpy roads, while OLEV can suck power across a gap of up to 25 cm.
Given a normal gap, the vehicle can turn more than 70 percent of the charge into energy for the vehicle, he said.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Hyundai is taking the high road with Equus: South Korean carmaker goes after BMW, Lexus and other luxury brands
By Paul Eisenstein
Its very name has long been synonymous with “cheap,” yet the South Korean carmaker, Hyundai Motors, is taking aim at some of the most lavish and costly segments of the automotive market.
Hoping to build on the success of its up-market Genesis sedan, which was named North American Car of the Year last January, Hyundai is getting ready to roll out an even more luxurious sedan, dubbed Equus, which will target some of the toughest — and highest-priced — competitors in the automotive market, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Lexus.
But will buyers be willing to trade in their S-Class and 7-Series sedans for a new, $60,000 car that will be sold alongside more plebeian products, such as the $10,000 Hyundai Accent? Apparently Hyundai believes they will, based on the unexpected success of the Genesis sedan, which nudged the company’s products into the $40,000 range for the first time.
“We’re a lot more positive about Equus than we were when we were getting ready to launch Genesis,” says Hyundai America’s marketing chief, Joel Ewanick.
But within the South Korean company, there were skeptics who didn't understand how Hyundai could enter the luxury market when its traditional marketing emphasized rock-bottom pricing. Yet in some ways that turned around when the Genesis sedan, targeted at the mid-luxury Mercedes E-Class level, hit the market.
Though many of the 50-member North American Car of the Year jurors — of which, in full disclosure, I am one — felt the four-door wasn’t quite best-in-segment, the tremendous leap Hyundai took was enough to sway the vote, with the Genesis sedan narrowly nudging past the Ford Flex “people mover” in January’s vote.
Hyundai certainly had a good story to tell. Long lingering at the bottom of the quality charts, it has, in recent years, climbed into the upper strata, along with long-time leaders Lexus and Porsche. Savvy marketing campaigns also helped, such as the Hyundai Assurance program, designed to protect customers who might lose their job after buying one of its new cars.
Only a few years ago, less than one in five American motorists would even consider a Hyundai product, according to a variety of industry surveys. By the time of the Genesis launch, that had risen to one in four. And more recently, the carmaker claims, the “consideration factor” has nudged close to 40 percent, ahead of domestic makers GM and Chrysler, as well as many mid-line Asian makers.
That change in public attitude started to entice Korean planners, who had begun working on several products even more upscale than Genesis. Barely a year ago, there was no plan to bring any of those over to the U.S., according to Hyundai America CEO John Krafcik. Then the company decided to test the waters by revealing a concept version of Equus at the New York Auto Show in April.
With unexpectedly positive feedback from the show, and subsequent consumer clinics, “We built confidence we can take this to another level," Ewanick says.
A running prototype of the Equus reveals a car that is definitely a step above Genesis when it comes to classic luxury touches. The car is roughly half a foot longer than Genesis, most of it going toward the cavernous back seat. The sedan is swathed in leather, the cabin featuring plenty of requisite hand-rubbed wood. All windows, front and back, use laminated glass designed to block out all but the loudest exterior noises.
The interior features all the expected technology, such as a large LCD monitor in the center stack for navigation and other features including a first-of-its-kind forward-looking video camera.
Under the hood, Equus will share the 4.6-liter V-8 found in the topline Genesis model. Performance is part of the price of admission in the premium-luxury segment, Hyundai officials note. When the American version is ready, they promise it will have the handling and road feel somewhere between the soft Lexus LS460 and the more Teutonic Mercedes-Benz S550.
Will buyers believe that a Hyundai can really compete with such benchmark brands? Company officials note that they’ve been taking plenty of Mercedes and BMW trade-ins for the Genesis. But they also concede that there’s a big difference when a manufacturer tries to stretch from mid-luxury models like the E-Class to the elite and rarefied S-Class.
So far, “Nobody’s been able to run the gamut from entry cars, like Accent, all the way up to the highest levels of luxury,” echoes analyst Dan Gorrell of the consulting firm Autostrategem, in North Tustin, Calif. “People who buy these cars are likely to look down on their nose at traditional Hyundai buyers, and I can’t even imagine them willing to share the same showroom.”
Hyundai officials admit that will be a particular challenge and hint that they are looking at alternatives. One possibility would be to create a sort of “showroom-within-a-showroom,” says Ewanick, open only to Equus customers. And even then, he adds, only one in four of Hyundai’s current, best dealers will be allowed to distribute the new model.
Another alternative might be to approach top-line customers directly at home or in the office, or just about anywhere else that might suit them, rather than bringing them into a showroom.
Hyundai will have to move fast — the launch of Equus comes early next year. But for now, Hyundai is holding down expectations, suggesting it only intends to import about 2,000 of the big sedans annually.
And if Equus hits that target? For now, insists Ewanick, there are no plans to bring any other Hyundai luxury cars to the states. Nor does the carmaker intend to set up a separate luxury channel, like Toyota’s Lexus division, but “we haven’t ruled that out,” the marketing executive adds.
One thing is certain, Hyundai doesn’t plan to abandon mainstream products like the Accent, Elantra or Santa Fe. “We know end of the day [that if our core products aren’t successful,’ says Ewanick, “Equus won’t matter.”
© 2009 msnbc.com. Reprints
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32557652/ns/business-the_drivers_seat/
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The largest Snowball / Chicken Fight Ever!!
Members of Soth Korea's Special Warfare Command take part in a severe winter season drill, to improve their combat abilities in cold weather, in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul
Picture: REUTERS
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