KGM Commercial, or KGMC, said Feb. 26 it has begun deliveries after handing over the first unit of its E-STANA, a 7-meter-class low-floor electric bus it says is the first of its kind developed in South Korea.
KGMC held the handover ceremony Feb. 25 at Jagyeong Village Bus in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, with KGMC CEO Kim Jong-hyun and Jagyeong Village Bus CEO Jang Gwan-su attending along with officials from Gwangmyeong City Hall, the Gyeonggi Village Bus Association and representatives of about 10 village-bus companies in the province, the company said.
Jagyeong Village Bus, founded in 1992, operates in southern Gwangmyeong and serves areas with limited transportation options. The company said it chose the low-floor E-STANA to better serve riders with mobility challenges.
"Until now, there was no domestic 7-meter low-floor electric bus, so we had no choice but to buy diesel buses," Jang said. "KGMC’s E-STANA, the first domestically produced 7-meter low-floor electric bus, will be a practical, close-to-home means of transportation that people with disabilities and older adults can use more conveniently."
KGMC said the E-STANA was independently developed with South Korean road conditions in mind and is designed for safety, durability and convenience. Features include a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, an electronic parking brake system, an electronic brake system, auto-hold, electronic stability control and a rear-collision warning system, as well as wheelchair-access convenience equipment based on city-bus specifications.
The bus is equipped with a 154.8-kWh lithium-ion high-voltage battery from Samsung SDI and has a driving range of 328 kilometers per charge, KGMC said.
KGMC said the model is eligible for national and local government subsidies for electric vehicles, as well as subsidies for low-floor buses, which it said can reduce buyers’ costs.
KGMC is also expanding outreach through a nationwide E-STANA roadshow that visits bus operators. The company said it has held events at about 30 locations since January, starting in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province and moving through Chungcheong and Honam, and plans to visit about 10 more sites in the Yeongnam region, including Busan, through March.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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