Establishment of Hydrogen Bus Charging Station Construction Model and Enhancement of Domestic Equipment Localization Rate

A hydrogen bus charging station to conduct government demonstration projects has been established in Changwon, Gyeongnam Province.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a completion ceremony on the 14th with Changwon City for the bus-linked Gapo hydrogen charging station.

This completion ceremony is the result of the 'Hydrogen Bus Charging Station Demonstration Project' which has been carried out with a total project cost of 19.4 billion won since 2020, and has been promoted with the participation of the Korea Automotive Research Institute, Changwon Industrial Promotion Agency, Korea Natural Gas Hydrogen Charging Association, and Gyeongnam Technopark, among others.

In this project, an operational plan linked with bus routes will be established to analyze hydrogen bus charging patterns (single charge amount, number of charges per day, total charge amount per day, etc.), and low-pressure charging demonstration (700bar → 350bar) will also be pursued when charging equipment fails, to present stable operational methodologies for bus hydrogen charging stations.

Enhancement of the localization rate of charging station equipment is also being planned. Most of the domestic technology development for key hydrogen charging station components has been completed, but the actual commercialization rate remains low due to insufficient track records and reliability of domestic parts. By constructing the charging station equipment with a domestic localization rate of 80% or higher, the plan is to verify operational characteristics, performance analysis, durability, and reliability of domestic parts.

While operating two chargers each equipped with domestic and imported compressors, performance will be compared and monitored to present measures to enhance the domestic localization rate of hydrogen charging stations in the future, and demonstrate and operate components and equipment developed by domestic companies under actual hydrogen operating conditions (700 bar, minus 40°C) to secure data and establish technical and performance standards.

The Gapo hydrogen charging station is an excellent opportunity to accumulate hydrogen bus operation experience by being linked with actual bus routes, and the accumulated experience is expected to be disseminated to local governments, contributing to the establishment of hydrogen bus operation and charging station construction models.

The Director of Hydrogen Economy Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "Changwon City is rapidly establishing a hydrogen economy ecosystem with over 130 hydrogen parts companies, hydrogen production bases, liquefied hydrogen plants, and large-scale fuel cell power generation projects," and added, "Going forward, we will continue to support enhancement of the domestic localization rate of hydrogen charging stations as well as explore new business models such as clean hydrogen-based charging stations and hydrogen-electric integrated charging stations."