KIB Plug Energy Acquires Electric and Hydrogen Bus Specialist 'Beomhan Motors'... "First Step in Eco-Friendly Energy Business"

KIB Plug Energy announced on the 25th that it will acquire a 50% stake in Beomhan Motors, an eco-friendly bus manufacturing and sales company. This is part of the future business and management plan related to the eco-friendly energy value chain disclosed on the 18th, and the company plans to actively enter the electric and hydrogen bus business.

Beomhan Motors has production facilities for electric and hydrogen buses in Haman-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do. The company explained that it is an attractive investment as it obtained all certifications for domestic production from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last September. The production process will be changed from the existing SKD (Semi-Knocked Down) to CKD (Completely Knocked Down) method, which is expected to reduce costs and improve profitability.

The company stated, “With the expansion of subsidies for eco-friendly vehicles and many local governments favoring domestic products, we expect performance growth in the second half of the year. Although we recorded losses last year due to delays in domestic production certification, full-scale sales will begin this year, leading to rapid performance improvement.”

In November last year, the government announced a growth strategy for creating a clean hydrogen ecosystem and fostering the world’s leading hydrogen industry at the 5th Hydrogen Economy Committee. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is actively promoting the introduction of hydrogen buses with a 99% localization rate of core components and launched a pilot project to introduce 400 hydrogen buses in February.

A KIB Plug Energy official said, “The acquisition of Beomhan Motors signifies the first step in building a new energy business such as the electric and hydrogen value chains. We will quickly establish ourselves in the hydrogen bus market and secure an early market share amid social demands and government policy support.”

He added, “We will also actively communicate with the market and investors about the progress of new businesses that arise in the future.”

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