Electric Buses to be operated in Busan for the First Time in Korea.
- Contents
-
Busan City announced that it will operate battery-powered electric buses (Bus No. 62) beginning this November to improve the city’s air quality by reducing emissions from public buses.
The plug-in electric vehicles for Namsan Mountain shuttle bus, battery-swapping electric cars in Pohang and Jeju, and wireless charging electric vehicles in Gumi have already been adopted in Korea. However, this is the first time in Korea that plug-in electric buses that run regularly on the city’s bus routes have been implemented.
The adopted electric bus with a 163kwh battery, can run for up to 180 kilometers (100 kilometer on average) on a single charge. It is suitable to run the route of local bus no. 62 (42km round trip from Millak-dong to Silla Univ.).
Five electric buses will be in operation in November. After performance tests for the vehicles, the City plans to add five additional electric buses in the first half of next year. A total of 30 electric buses will in operation by the end of 2017.
The operation of electric buses will prevent the discharge of air pollutant emissions by the current CNG local bus, thereby improving the city’s air quality. The fuel cost for the buses will be reduced as well. However, electric buses are very expensive. To adopt the new buses, government support policy is needed, like tax benefits and technological improvement that will reduce the cost of the electric vehicles.
For more information, please contact the public transportation division at (051) 888-3964.
