Korean Hydrogen Bus Adoption Emerging To Block Low-Priced Electric Buses From China
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on BusinessKorea.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Major Korean business groups such as Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and POSCO are expanding the introduction of hydrogen buses. They are more efficient than electric buses, and can run 635 kilometers on a single charge, making them suitable for long-distance commuting. Expanding hydrogen mobility, including buses, is considered the first step in building an entire hydrogen ecosystem.
SK Group is one of the most active companies in expanding hydrogen buses. According to SK Group on May 26, SK siltron has decided to replace its commuter buses for employees of its Gumi plant in North Gyeongsang Province with hydrogen buses. Additional deployments are under consideration after a pilot run in the first half of the year. In early May, SK hynix introduced three of the Universe model, Hyundai’s hydrogen bus for commuting. SK E&S recently completed the world’s largest liquefied hydrogen plant in Incheon and plans to soon expand its hydrogen refueling stations nationwide to 20.
The Korean bus seem to have developed a strategy to protect themselves from the Chinese.
I have a few thoughts.
Korea And HiiROC
Hyundai and Kia have joined Centrica in taking stakes in Hull-based startup HiiROC, which I wrote about in Meet HiiROC, The Startup Making Low-Cost Hydrogen Free From Emissions.
London’s Future Bus Fleet
There are rumours on the Internet that Sadiq Khan, will replace all London’s buses with new Chinese buses.
How will I get around, as I don’t ride in anything that was made in China?
Conclusion
We live in interesting times.
The Anonymous Widower 
Business Korea need to get their facts straight and avoid conflating a story about Chinese imports and another about the delivery of fuel cell buses to domestic operators in Korea. Battery electric vehicles are far more efficient than fuel-cell-equipped vehicles, simply because while batteries store electrical energy that can be supplied directly to the drive motor(s), fuel cells store chemical energy that must be converted to electrical energy before it can be used by the drive motor. In any conversion process, there is a loss of efficiency.
Having read a numbers of other Korean articles, what is really happening is that the Koreans are complaining that the Chinese are supplying buses with cheaper, less efficient batteries than their own, which also provide a lower level of dynamic bus performance. This situation is currently being repeated by Go Ahead’s intention to purchase Chinese BYD buses for use in London, rather than either the ADL Enviro or Wrightbus Streetdecker. Both British offerings cost about £100000 or 25% more than the BYD BD11.
On top of all of this, there are compounding matters concerning the fire safety of the buses and operational practicalities that favour the Chinese option
Does Go Ahead support the British Bus Building industry at a cost to themselves of £10 million, or does someone have to play the political card and enforce the purchase of buses made in Britain. One thing’s for sure TfL hasn’t the money, and a British government won’t be able to apply further import tariffs any time soon.
Comment by fammorris | May 28, 2024 |