South Korea’s capital is the home of some newly-launched electric buses. A country that’s heavily dependent on fossil fuels, Korea is now one of the most fervent investors in battery technologies and renewable energy.
The Seoul government has launched the buses that circle the city’s iconic Namsan mountain, and run up to 55 miles on a single charge. The 322 horsepower electric motor propels the buses to the maximum speed of 60 miles per hour (though I don’t think they’d ever need that) and to charge the battery lasts 30 minutes (pretty fast, but they probably use specialized high-power chargers).
The electric buses are actually replacing five of the fourteen buses than run the same route, and the aim is to replace them all with the new electric vehicles.
The project run by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hankuk Fiber is part of a bigger government initiative to put 120,000 EVs on Seoul streets by 2020, which includes half of the buses being electric. ving.
