April 21, 2024

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South Korea is aiming to get all commercial vehicles in the country to run on hydrogen fuel cells by 2035 in a move to help ease fine dust air pollution, the Transport Ministry said on March 20.

In a report submitted to Rep. Youn Kwan-suk of the ruling Democratic Party, the ministry said it aims to gradually replace most buses, trucks, and construction equipment that use conventional combustion engines with hydrogen-powered ones in the next 15 years. 

“The government will partner with special-purpose companies and carmakers to promote hydrogen vehicles across the country. Utmost attention will be made to establish a viable charging infrastructure for hydrogen cars,” Na Min-hee, a ministry official in charge of the matter, said over the phone.

The public transportation sector is a good sector to introduce hydrogen vehicles, as the resource has the potential to become the next-generation fuel for large commercial vehicles with good fuel efficiency, Na said.

Hydrogen has the added advantage of being one of the most abundant elements in the universe with water and clean air being the only byproducts of the energy generate in a fuel stack.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)