Original] The destination is a huge recycling plant in Toyama Prefecture… The “Graveyard of Expo EV Buses” in Osaka City is finally being dismantled.

The Expo buses manufactured by EV Motors Japan, which were used at the Osaka Expo, are about to meet an unexpected fate. Kumiko Kato, an automotive journalist who has been pursuing the issue, looks into the latest situation.

The buses are finally being moved from the bus graveyard in Morinomiya, Osaka.

The “Graveyard of EV Buses” is finally going to disappear.

Since mid-December last year, a large number of EV buses used for the Osaka-Kansai Expo have been placed on land owned by Osaka Metro in Morinomiya, Osaka. A total of 135 buses, including the “Wisdom Small 6.99-meter bus” used as an “eMover” at the Expo site and the “Wisdom Large 10.5-meter bus” used as a shuttle bus between the Expo site and train stations, were on display (as of this January). (As confirmed by the author in January of this year).

All of these buses are EV buses built by EV Motors Japan (EVMJ), an EV start-up company based in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, using a Chinese manufacturer, and have been plagued with problems since they were delivered to Osaka Metro in 2011. In addition to the Osaka Metro buses, about 130 buses delivered to bus companies across Japan have been found to have serious defects, including brake-related defects and parts falling off due to defective welding.

In late February of this year, the fatal defect (rupture due to defective welding of the lateral rod connecting the axle to the body) was discovered during the final test of a bus for automatic operation. At the end of March, Osaka Metro decided and announced its decision not to use approximately 190 buses in the future, including the 135 placed at Morinomiya as well as 40 super-compact buses used for on-demand buses in the city.

The “graveyard of EV buses” has been reported by many media outlets, but the move was revealed at a May 14, ’26 financial results press conference by Osaka Metro President Hideaki Kawai, 71.’ After announcing that the company had posted an extraordinary loss of 6.7 billion yen in its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014,

”We hope to complete the bus relocation by the end of June.

The company clarified that it “hopes to complete the bus relocation by the end of June. Finally, on May 18, the first two Wisdom small buses were removed from the “graveyard. According to a photographer who covered the scene, several staff members wearing EVMJ polo shirts connected the power cables to the large buses at around 2:00 p.m. and began checking to see if they would start. The “destination indication” on the buses was “maintenance turnaround.” Nearly 30 buses were checked for startup, and preparations for transporting them out were made at Wisdom Small, with almost the entire bus covered with blue sheets.

The first bus departed from the Morinomiya graveyard at around 4:30 pm. According to the information this writer has obtained, “the destination is the Hokuriku region. We tracked down the two trucks to find out why in Hokuriku.

The Truth Behind the Whispered “Suspicion of Export to Russia

According to information received by the author, “The destination is definitely a recycling plant in Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture. It appears that the destination is a recycling company in Takaoka City. The location is near the Fushiki-Toyama Port in Toyama Prefecture, where a 15,000 m² completely indoor plant has been set up on a 147,000 m² site.

Here, used trains and buses are dismantled, and the company is also involved in the sale of used buses. The Fushiki-Toyama Port is well known for exporting used cars to Russia. Some in the industry wondered if the company was going to export to Russia, but that is impossible.

Export of used vehicles to Russia has been strictly regulated since August 2011 due to economic sanctions imposed in connection with the invasion of Ukraine, and used vehicles allowed for export are limited to “no electric or hybrid vehicles,” “pure gasoline vehicles of 1,900 liters or less,” and “mass-market vehicles of 6 million yen or less. Commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks are subject to stricter regulations, and the export of electric buses, as well as batteries and inverters alone, is not allowed.

So what exactly will happen to EV buses? A source in the bus industry reveals.

The Expo buses that will be brought here will not be sold or dismantled immediately. Eventually that will happen, but right now EVMJ is still in the process of civil rehabilitation proceedings. It will be left here until the proceedings are completed.

Some of the bus companies in the Tokyo metropolitan area that operate EVMJ buses say, “If we can get them at a reasonable price, we want to buy them. However, with all the problems that have occurred, it is doubtful that they will be allowed to run on public roads again.

The Expo bus, which had been a symbol of a national project, met an unbelievable end when it was taken to a dismantling plant less than seven months after the event closed.