Seoul to supply 4,000 hydrogen cars by 2022

By Kang Seung-woo

Seoul City aims to have more than 4,000 hydrogen vehicles on its roads by 2022 amid growing demand for the eco-friendly cars, according to the city government, Thursday.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon

It is an expansion of 1,000 vehicles from its initial plan, announced in October last year, to have 3,000 hydrogen vehicles by 2022.

“The Seoul Metropolitan Government will aggressively take actions to increase the use of those vehicles,” the city government said in a press statement. “For the goal, we'll also set up more than 15 charging stations, up from the initial plan of 11.”

As part of the efforts, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon has made a hydrogen fuel-cell car his official vehicle.

He rode the car to attend a forum of mayors from 25 countries held on the day in the Korean capital to discuss ways to deal with climate change and promote Seoul's will to expand the use of eco-friendly cars.

The local government had 591 hydrogen cars in service last year and it seeks to increase the number to 1,854 next year, with the number of refueling stations to be increased to 10 from the current four.

Seoul City expects its plan to help more citizens to easily have the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, given that people wanting the cars currently have to wait more than a year to receive them, due to high demand for the car and limited budget allowances for eco-friendly vehicles.

“It is a must to use eco-friendly vehicles to tackle climate change,” Mayor Park said.

“Seoul City will make efforts to supply more eco-friendly vehicles and help people use them without a hitch.”