Hyundai Motor, South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Tuesday it will unveil a new bus fully powered by electricity this month with the aim of getting it on the streets in 2018.

As the government plans to sharply increase the number of charging stations across the country in the coming years, Hyundai will field the emission-free bus in the domestic market, the caremaker said in a statement.

"Previously, we launched two versions of the 'zero-emission' electric bus but it was not successful in terms of market response due to the lack of charging stations," a company spokesman said.

Hyundai has been developing the 'Elec City' for the past eight years and will showcase the vehicle powered by a 256 kilowatt-per-hour battery at the Hyundai Truck & Bus Mega Fair, a local commercial vehicle exhibition initiated by the carmaker, it said. The electrified bus can run 290 kilometers on a single charge with the company claiming it will take several hours to top up the battery. 

The commercial vehicle show is scheduled to be held from May 25-28 at KINTEX exhibition hall, just northwest of Seoul.

As fine dust and other air pollutants emitted by vehicles have emerged as a major social issue that needs to be tackled, Hyundai will be a responsible player by developing more environment-friendly vehicles, the carmaker said in a statement.  (Yonhap)