November 30, 2024

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Kia‘s EV6 being manufactured at a manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. (Kia)

The accumulated number of electric vehicles in South Korea appears to have surpassed the 300,000 mark in July, 1.2 percent of the total number of registered vehicles in the country, according to a report published by the Transport Ministry on Sunday.

The report said South Korea had 298,633 EV registrations as of June. Industry insiders expect this number to have exceeded 300,000 last month.

Nearly 70,000 EVs were sold in just the first half of this year, a 73.5 percent rise in sales compared to the same period last year. Hyundai Motor and Kia saw a 101.9 and 161.7 percent increase in their EV sales, respectively.

Imported EV sales also saw a 13 percent increase during the same period. BMW and Mercedes-Benz both saw in 16.3-fold and 4.1-fold increase in EV sales, respectively, while Tesla’s sales decreased by 42 percent.

Industry insiders painted a rosy picture for the future of Korea’s EV market, that government subsidies will further fuel the growth of the EV market.

Meanwhile, the report found that the proportion of diesel cars decreased from 40.3 percent to 38.9 percent. This is the first time since 2014 that diesel cars accounted for less than 40 percent of all cars in Korea.

By Lee Seung-ku (seungku99@heraldcorp.com)