Korea green Peanut Bus grows interest worldwide

The city of Seoul, South Korea, debuts its new electric bus, Namsan Electric Bus, Seoul’s newest form of public transport and the latest trophy in terms of green initiatives for the Seoul Metropolitan Government is a significant milestone of the city-wide efforts to go green. The buses, which are also dubbed Peanut Buses for obvious design reasons, can carry 1,000 to 3,000 passengers a day and up to 47 passengers per trip.

Currently, a fully-charged battery allows the bus to run for 80 kilometres (two or three rounds depending on each route) at an average speed of 20-40 kilometres per hour. The top speed is 100 kilometres per hour, and it takes 20-30 minutes to charge the battery. To live up to expectations and boost the vehicle’s prowess, the government is working to increase the battery efficiency.

The technology and design of the bus has been garnering international interest; earlier this year, transportation industry personnel from countries including Turkey, Japan, Chile and Denmark visited Seoul to benchmark and explore ways to adopt the specific technological know-how.

“Many countries were deeply impressed by our successful commercialisation of the electric bus, which happens to be the very first in the world,” says Hyung-rae Song, a Seoul city government official in charge of the Green Car Project. “We get a steady stream of visitors from overseas for test-rides and discussions.”

The Seoul government plans to expand the number of electric buses to 377 by 2014 for routes shorter than 20 kilometres in the Gangnam and Yeouido area, and that’s only the short-term goal.

With ambitions running high to lead the world’s green car industry, Seoul plans to operate 120,000 green cars including electric taxis and establish 110,000 battery chargers by 2020.