Norway made its startling discovery about Chinese electric buses after driving one deep into a mine to see if it could be hacked

It turns out that Norway made its starting discovery about Chinese electric buses in a unique way.

The shocking discovery came after driving one deep into a mine.

Norwegian authorities did this to test whether its Chinese electric buses could be hacked.

And it turns out that, even in the depths of a mine, they could be.

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Norway kicks off Europe-wide panic

The Chinese electric bus scandal has been one of the most shocking stories to come out of the EV world.

And it is all centred on the Norwegian capital city of Oslo.

Earlier this year, Oslo’s transport authority, Ruter, struck a major deal with Chinese automaker Yutong.

Roughly 300 new electric buses would join the city’s fleet as part of Norway’s plan to make all public transport emission-free by 2030.

It was a celebration, both for the Norwegians and the Chinese.

For Oslo, each one promised lower running costs, seamless over-the-air updates, and data-driven performance tracking.

The project quickly became a case study in clean mobility – efficient, connected, and scalable.

But, in the background, Ruter’s engineers were secretly conducting cybersecurity tests on the new fleet.

And those tests brought up a shocking weakness that was hiding in plain sight.

Investigators discovered the Yutong EV buses could be accessed remotely from servers in China.

Through the software, the manufacturer could – theoretically – shut the fleet down remotely.

This would all be made possible through the remote chip that operates each bus.

The panic then spread to Denmark and the United Kingdom.

Movia, the largest public transport provider in Denmark, also has 262 electric Chinese buses from Yutong in its ownership.

And the UK had also begun integrating these Chinese electric buses into its existing fleet.

This discovery raises wider concerns

So how did Norway actually make the initial discovery?

Earlier this summer, Ruter drove one of its new Yutong buses into a unique testing environment.

It drove a Chinese electric bus deep into a decommissioned mine in the side of a mountain.

And the test was created to answer one question.

Could the bus be remotely hacked?

Cybersecurity experts came back with a shocking conclusion.

Yes, the buses could be remotely hacked.

In theory, the Chinese electric buses could be hacked using the control system for the battery.

And it was this discovery that sparked widespread panic across Europe.

It has also sparked wider discussions about wider security concerns.

Those concerns largely focus on the growing reliance on Chinese-made and supplied technology.

British MP Alicia Kearns offered a stark warning about the security concerns.

“Norway and Denmark alerted us to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses.”

“These switches allow China to switch off buses and bring chaos to transport systems.”

What the future holds for the Chinese electric buses very much remains to be seen.

But one thing is for certain – it has sparked a much wider debate about how reliant the West is on these new technologies.