Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a concept vehicle that runs on power conveyed by magnets from underground lines. And this one charges the electric motor on the fly, of course without relying on a drop of gas.

The Story: Magnets. It runs using magnets. Magnets buried under the ground that have a blue line painted on the pavement above, so that when the tram follows that line, the magnets recharge the electric motor located inside the vehicle. A vehicle which just so happens to be a trolley train of three or four open cars (depending on the day) at the Seoul Grand Park, a zoo and amusement park located on the southern outskirts of the capital city.

What’s particularly cool is that this tram doesn’t have to run on a fixed route like a trolley car. This tram simply straddles the blue line briefly, gets a quick recharge and veers off, covering a new set of excursions around the park. Passengers can monitor the amount of stockpiled power remaining, then watch it refuel right before their eyes on screens mounted on the seats in front of them as the tram passes over an underground cable, itself plugged into an ordinary electric grid, that then recharges the battery via powerful magnets.

“Many people said it couldn’t be done,” says Mr. Suh Nam-pyo, president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and champion of the technology. Prior to running KAIST, Suh was a professor at MIT for 35 years. “In spite of many negative comments, we have shown it is a viable concept.”

The immensely powerful magnetic field is able to pass through concrete and about seven inches of air before it comes into contact with the magnets inside the tram’s battery. Currently, the OLEV, or Online Electric Vehicle, traverses the perimeter of the park at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. And when the OLEV goes off the grid, Suh says “the battery will power the cable when the electrical cable is absent,” says Suh. “We feel this is the way to transform the transportation industry, not only automobiles but other forms of transportation.”

And that’s where it starts to get interesting.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest manufacturer of merchant vessels, with long experience turning out electrical engines for ships, made the equipment needed to convert the train from diesel to electric at Seoul Grand Park. They are a potential partner in producing the magnet technology on a larger and more affordable scale. And, not only are these batteries lighter than today’s hybrid batteries, but when produced, engineers believe these batteries will cost anywhere from three-quarters to about half the amount hybrid batteries cost.