[Exclusive] Edison Motors Electric Bus with 2 Billion Won in National Funding... Not a Single Unit Exported

Edison Motors Develops Thailand-Style Electric Bus... Export Performance 'Zero'
Started as a Research Project by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning... 2 Billion KRW of National Funding Invested
President Moon Test-Drove Locally in 2019... Imported to Korea Two Months After Event
Received Large Subsidies from Seoul City... 41.7 Billion KRW in Last 3 Years

(Bangkok=Yonhap News) Reporter Bae Jaeman = Former President Moon Jae-in and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha are test-driving a Korea-Thailand jointly developed electric bus after the Korea-Thailand Business Forum held at the InterContinental Hotel in Bangkok on the afternoon of September 2, 2019 (local time). 2019.9.2

scoop@yna.co.kr

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] The government jointly developed electric buses with Edison Motors targeting the Thai market, but it has been revealed that not a single unit was actually exported locally. In fact, the Edison Motors electric bus that former President Moon personally rode in Thailand in 2019 was re-imported to Korea just two months after the local event.

According to data submitted by the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Han Mu-kyung on the 14th, there were no local export records for the Thai-type high-efficiency electric bus jointly developed with Edison Motors in 2019. This bus was specially developed by relocating the battery position to suit the hot and humid environment in Thailand. The Thai-type electric bus project, which started as a KETEP research project in June 2016, was led by Edison Motors, which is suspected of stock price manipulation by leveraging the acquisition of SsangYong Motor.

KETEP invested 2 billion KRW of national funds into Edison Motors citing the development of the Thai market. Edison Motors sent one electric bus to Thailand in 2018 and conducted pilot operations on seven routes within Bangkok. The Thai-type electric bus development project ended in 2019.

'Annual 80 Billion KRW' Export Forecast

The problem lies in Edison Motors, the project lead, inflating export prospects. Initially, Edison Motors expected to export 35 Thai-type electric buses in 2019 and over 200 units in 2020. Considering the price of one Thai-type electric bus is 400 million KRW, Edison Motors anticipated export effects exceeding 80 billion KRW annually starting from 2020.

Former President Moon also raised export expectations. Earlier, in September 2019, former President Moon test-rode the bus locally together with the Thai Prime Minister. Kang Young-kwon, chairman of Edison Motors, who was arrested on the 8th of this month on charges of stock manipulation, also attended the local presidential event.

Ultimately, export performance remained at ‘zero’. Moreover, the electric bus that former President Moon rode in Thailand was brought back to Korea in November 2019, two months after the local event. The transportation cost alone to bring the electric bus back from Thailand was about 10 million KRW.

Edison Motors’ ‘performance inflation’ did not end there. Previously, Edison Motors announced that it would export 102 electric buses to India after competing with BYD, China’s top electric vehicle company, in 2020. At that time, Edison Motors also announced plans to invest 790 billion KRW in India to build a factory capable of producing 2,000 electric buses annually. However, according to the confirmation by lawmaker Han Mu-kyung’s office, Edison Motors has had no export records of electric buses to India recently, nor has the production base been established.

Status of Edison Motors electric bus purchases and subsidy payments by Seoul City.
[Photo by Han Mu-gyeong, Office of the People Power Party lawmaker]

Former President Moon’s Congratulatory Speech at Edison Motors Factory Completion Ceremony

However, government support continued. In September last year, former President Moon sent a video congratulatory speech for the completion ceremony of Edison Motors’ Gunsan factory. Former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Seung-wook and former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil attended the ceremony in person.

Additionally, Edison Motors received subsidies totaling 41.7 billion KRW from the Seoul Metropolitan Government over the past three years. Specifically, Edison Motors received 5.8 billion KRW in 2019, 14.8 billion KRW in 2020, and 21.1 billion KRW last year from Seoul. Since Edison Motors assembles most of the core components such as chassis, batteries, and electric motors by importing them from the Chinese company Jiangsu Xinjiang Automotive (JJAC), there is a view that subsidies may have flowed into Chinese companies.

Lawmaker Han said, “I believe Edison Motors’ stock manipulation case is not unrelated to the previous government,” adding, “We need to closely examine whether there was any illegality behind the previous government’s full support for Edison Motors.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.