Incheon Hydrogen Bus Serving 18 Million Passengers... Producing Its Own Hydrogen

23 Hydrogen Buses in Operation... 130 More to Be Added Within the Year

18 million citizens of Incheon will now use hydrogen buses.

On the 18th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a delivery ceremony for the first hydrogen bus supported by the 'Hydrogen Fuel Cell System Purchase Support Pilot Project' and the completion ceremony of the Incheon hydrogen production base.

Since announcing a growth strategy for creating a clean hydrogen ecosystem and fostering the world's leading hydrogen industry at the 5th Hydrogen Economy Committee last November, the government has been actively promoting policies to expand the hydrogen economy overall.

As part of this, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy established a pilot project for hydrogen bus distribution linked to hydrogen production and charging infrastructure, selecting six local governments (Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Sejong, Jeonbuk, Gyeongnam) to participate through a public contest this year. Among them, Incheon City will pilot the largest number with 130 buses, and the first hydrogen bus was delivered at this event.

Also on this day in Incheon, a small-scale hydrogen production base supplying hydrogen fuel using city gas was completed as the fourth such facility following Changwon, Pyeongtaek, and Samcheok.

Incheon had previously lacked hydrogen production facilities and relied on hydrogen supplied from other regions, but with the completion of this decentralized hydrogen production base, it is expected to enable an annual production of 430 tons of hydrogen, contributing to stable local supply. This is especially the first domestic case of directly installing a hydrogen production base at a bus depot that uses large amounts of hydrogen.

Park Il-jun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "We will actively support the advancement of infrastructure related to hydrogen production, storage, and transportation, and make further efforts to expand the hydrogen ecosystem through improvements in hydrogen-related laws and systems."

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