Hyundai Motor will supply 15 Elec City electric buses to Marrakech under a development aid project run jointly with South Korea’s Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the city of Marrakech. The automaker announced the delivery Tuesday, a day after holding a handover ceremony at its Jeonju plant in Wanju County, North Jeolla Province, marking completion of the first two buses.
The event was attended by Lee Seung-min, executive director of Hyundai’s commercial vehicle product division; Do Young-a, director of KOICA’s Regional Programs Department II; and Chafik Rachadi, Morocco’s ambassador to South Korea. The buses will be the first domestically produced electric buses to reach Morocco, running on routes serving Marrakech’s main tourist districts to help meet transport demand and reduce urban air pollution.
Under the official development assistance program, KOICA will provide the buses along with fast chargers and related equipment, while running local training and technical cooperation to build capacity for operating and maintaining the vehicles. The project supports Morocco’s broader low-carbon push across energy, industry and transport, as the government aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 45.5% from business-as-usual projections by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
Hyundai plans to hold a local handover ceremony in Morocco in the first quarter of 2027, once production and shipment of the remaining vehicles is complete. Park Chul-yeon, head of Hyundai’s Global Commercial Vehicle and LCV Division, described the project as broadening the potential for electrifying public transport, while Do said she hoped it would open the way for more Korean-made electric vehicles to enter Morocco and the wider North Africa region.
Rachadi noted the symbolic significance of introducing the buses in Marrakech, host city of the 2016 UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) and one of Morocco’s leading economic and cultural centers, saying the project could become a new starting point for cooperation between Korea and Morocco on sustainable urban mobility.
