Busan City Introduces Eco-Friendly Local Buses
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The Busan City Government started operating electric inner-city buses on November 29, 2016, marking the first such case in Korea. Five plug-in electric buses (Bus No. 1) are operating on 20km round trips from Millak-dong, Suyeong-gu to Buam Metro Station (Line 2) via Suyeong junction, Yangjeong and Seomyeon at intervals of 20 minutes.
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.
The operation of electric buses will prevent the discharge of air pollutants 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.
Currently, the number of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses is very high in Busan. It is the result of the city government’s campaign to change buses fuelled by diesel to CNG buses beginning in 2001 by supporting the purchase of CNG vehicles financially to reduce air pollution. 2,422 CNG buses among a total of 2,511 buses are now in operation in Busan. CNG buses significantly reduce harmful emissions compared to diesel-fuelled bus.
Two CNG hybrid buses (Bus No. 115) were introduced in Busan last July. The CNG hybrid bus was developed by Hyundai Motor Co. and delivers fuel efficiency with lower emissions by using a CNG engine and an electric motor compared to a CNG bus. Bus No. 115 travels from Yeonsan 9-dong to Wangja Apartment via BEXCO.
Busan City also financially supports the purchase of CNG hybrid buses.
Busan City government plans to continue to evolve local diesel-fuelled, CNG and CNG hybrid buses into ultimately all electric buses.
Busan City expects that adopting eco-friendly public transportation, like electric buses, will reduce environmental pollution and improve the bus company’s management conditions by reducing fuel costs.
