Walking the Walk: Unveiling Our First Electric Bus

Walking the Walk: Unveiling Our First Electric Bus  

Tucked in a corner of a humble parking lot behind our College is a bus that, on the surface, may not look much different from any other bus on the street. This Bus #1 is no ordinary bus, however. It is our very first electric bus – which may well be the country’s very first electric school bus* - and we are immensely proud to unveil it to our community.   

The origin story goes like this: when we first asked our bus partners about electric buses, they gave us somewhat of a blank stare. There are no electric school buses, they said. They simply don’t exist. The only way for us to introduce an electric bus was to require our partners to have one. We are supporting them as much as possible in the journey toward alternative energy sources. The result: the first electric international school bus in the country was born.  

There is no occasion timelier than our No Carbon November initiative to announce this exciting milestone for us. It is perhaps serendipitous that Bus #1 happens to ride around the UN Village in the Yongsan area, as the initiative aligns perfectly with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.  

While electric cars, taxis and buses are commonly seen on the streets of Seoul, school buses have been decidedly missing in the shift toward alternative energy sources. We are proud to be taking on a leadership role in rolling out this first electric school bus that we hope will serve as a model for other schools to follow. 

Every day, students get to live and breathe our sustainability value simply by riding the bus or learning why the College is transitioning to electric buses. Our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to cleaner air is always front and center. Our focus remains steadfast on advancing sustainability, as evidenced by the electric bus's design prioritising efficiency with a slightly reduced seating capacity (16 vs 18). We are also optimizing our electric bus for all seasons, with ongoing tests to ensure top performance even during the colder months.  

We are hoping to expand the number of electric school buses over time, so all of our buses are electric, and we are looking to build bus charging stations on campus down the road to make the transition as easy as possible. We are also planning on making the electric bus more visually striking to ensure everyone in our Dulwich and local communities can see it in action and promote our message around sustainability.  

*that we know of!