Suwon Builds Nation's Largest Electric Bus Charging Infrastructure

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon has constructed the nation's largest electric bus charging infrastructure.

On the afternoon of the 9th at 3 p.m., Suwon Northern Public Bus Garage in Jangan-gu, Suwon, was crowded with visitors. A completion ceremony and test drive event for the electric bus charging infrastructure construction project, built by Suwon Yeokgak, was held.

The completion ceremony was attended by Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young, Suwon City Council Speaker Jo Myeong-ja, and Suwon Yeokgak CEO Lee Yong-jin. Governor Lee and Mayor Yeom congratulated the construction of the charging infrastructure and personally test-drove the eco-friendly electric buses. They also toured the charging station and demonstrated charging. The completed charging station is capable of charging 96 buses at once.

A city official stated, "This is the first facility of this maximum scale in the nation."

A total of 2.7 billion won was spent, combining national treasury, provincial and municipal budgets, and Suwon Yeokgak's own funds. The charging station is a power bank-type system in which the charging device is plugged into the bus, one bus is charged, and then another bus is charged.

When electric buses complete their daily operations and return to the garage with the charger plugged in, buses lined up sequentially are progressively charged. It is a system that allows 96 buses to be fully charged for the next day's operations.

Also, when a bus completes its route and enters the garage and connects to the charger, approximately 30kW additional charge is supplied during the roughly 20 minutes drivers rest, enabling safer power security.

Solar panels are attached to the canopy installed to protect chargers and users from sunlight, rain, and snow, allowing the facility to serve dual purposes as a solar power generation project while being designed in an eco-friendly manner. Off-peak electricity is also utilized.

The city is actively introducing electric buses to reduce greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants such as fine dust. The goal is to introduce 1,000 electric buses corresponding to all buses registered in the city over the next three years.

Suwon Yeokgak, which first proposed the electric bus replacement project to the city, plans to convert all 600 buses currently in operation to electric buses.

To this end, the city entered an agreement with Suwon Yeokgak, the largest bus operator in the region, and supported the purchase of 94 electric buses. Currently, 36 buses are operating mainly on routes 5 and 98. The remaining 58 buses are scheduled to be brought in by the first half of next year. Additionally, the city provided the Northern Public Bus Garage as the charging infrastructure site.

At the completion ceremony, the advantages of electric buses were clearly evident. Actual measurements were taken of pollution such as emissions and noise from regular buses and electric buses. Regular CNG buses produced considerable noise. In contrast, electric buses were nearly silent. Little fine dust was emitted. Governor Lee and Mayor Yeom appeared satisfied.

Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young said, "The shift to eco-friendly transportation is no longer a choice but a necessity, and government, businesses, and citizens must all create substantive change," and added, "The city will take the lead in protecting clean air, which is citizens' rightful entitlement."

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung also stated, "As the fine dust problem has become extremely serious recently and public interest is high, Gyeonggi Province is trying to maximize the introduction of electric buses and hydrogen buses," and said, "Since this is an important policy goal aligned with government policy and desired by the public, the province will provide full support so there are no concerns about funding."