Despite drastic cuts to subsidies, sales of Chinese electric buses soared last year. In contrast, Hyundai’s domestic electric bus, the Elec City, struggled to compete with the overwhelming dominance of Chinese electric buses.
According to Kaizuyu, last year, sales of Chinese electric buses reached 3,978 units, accounting for 77.8% of total electric bus sales of 5,113 units. It’s reported that three out of five transport operators who purchased electric buses opted for Chinese models over the domestic Elec City.
In terms of brand-specific sales of Chinese electric buses, XinYuan topped the list with 1,064 units sold, followed by Geely with 850 units, and Dongfeng Sokon with 560 units. Meanwhile, BYD and Haiger, both prominent in the commercial city bus market, saw sales of 439 and 394 units respectively.
On the other hand, Hyundai’s electric low-floor bus, the Elec City, could not keep up with the relentless surge of the Chinese electric bus coalition. The Elec City recorded sales of just 1,053 units, with a mere 82 units sold in the mid-size market for village buses. It barely surpassed 20% market share in the overall electric bus sector.
To protect domestic electric buses, the government reduced purchase subsidies for Chinese electric buses to 70%, but transport operators heavily favored Chinese models. This marks a significant failure of policies aimed at promoting domestic electric bus purchases.
A representative from a transport company stated, “Although subsidies for Chinese electric buses have been cut to 70%, they are actively implementing promotional activities such as payback to compensate for this, making it difficult for the Elec City, despite its subsidy advantage, to surpass the Chinese buses.”
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr