Invest KOREA

According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

South Korea hit a milestone of 1 million electric vehicles on the roads last month after newly registered green vehicles were added by over 180,000 over the past seven months.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday that the total number of registered eco-friendly cars, including battery EV, plug-in hybrid EV and fuel cell EV, reached 1,004,000 as of July 30, or 4.1 percent of all cars on the roads.

The country added 183,210 EVs during the first seven months of this year. Its green car count totaled at mere 140,297 in 2014 but grew sharply to reach 820,329 at the end of 2020 and to top 1 million last month.

A total of 806,808 plug-in hybrids were registered by July-end, making up 80.4 percent of all EVs in the country. Battery EVs followed next, tallied at 180,966 units to take up 18.0 percent. Hydrogen-powered fuel cell EVs numbered at 15,765, accounting for 1.6 percent.

The transport ministry estimates the number of battery-powered vehicles to exceed 220,000 this year.

Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Jeju Island were responsible for 46.6 percent of newly registered battery EVs, at 84,407 units.

The most popular EV brand was Hyundai Motor, occupying 44.6 percent, followed by Kia with 20.3 percent and Tesla with 14.8 percent.

Hyundai Porter II electric pickup was sold the most, recording 9,793 units, trailed by Hyundai Ioniq 5 hatchback with 8,628, Tesla Model 3 sedan with 6,291, and Hyundai Bongo III pickup with 6,047.

A 70 percent of EVs were registered for private use and the remaining 30 percent for corporate use.

Drivers in their 40s accounted for the largest 29.2 percent of new EV registration. Those in their 50s made up 27.5 percent, 60s 19.4 percent and 30s 16.6 percent.

The country had a total of 24.7 million cars registered as of July 31, up 0.25 percent compared to a month earlier and 1.4 percent against end of 2020.

New car registration came at 159,000 in July, down 4.7 percent on month. Korean brands made up 83.5 percent and imported cars 16.5 percent.

Registration of Korean-made cars fell 12.9 percent compared to a year earlier, due to automotive chip supply trouble and eased incentives.

Imported cars accounted for 11.5 percent of all registered cars in Korea as of last month after growing steadily from 9.4 percent in 2018.



By Cho Jeehyun

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (August 25, 2021)