How many electric cars have you noticed on Korean streets? Not a lot, but probably much more than in 2017. Electric cars in Korea can be easily spotted because of their light-blue license plates (at least the one’s registered since summer 2017). In this article I summarized the progress of electric cars in Korea based on statistics and my third-hand experience because my parents-in-law got an electric car.

Current situation in Korea

Electric cars are still aliens on our streets. Many people still can’t imagine to switch to an electric car and issues like high purchase costs and limited diversity of models hinder a wide uptake.

Globally, there are over 5 million electric cars on the streets, mostly in China, Norway and North America. By 2018 there were a total of 59,600 electric cars on Korean streets. Nearly 34,000 electric vehicles have been sold in 2018 in Korea. It shows a steep increase. The market share of battery-electric and plugin-electric vehicles in Korea is at 2.21%. And there were over 9,000 public chargers in Korea.

All major electric car models (at least the one’s that I’m aware off) are in theory available in Korea but the demand is high and production volumes low. In the case of my parents-in-law they had to wait for 8 months until the vehicle was delivered. The interest in electric cars is very high and the waiting list is long.

By the way, electric taxis in Seoul are light-blue.

It’s impossible to write an article about electric cars without mentioning Tesla. The front-runner on electric cars in North America and many other parts of the world was first seen on Korean streets at the end of 2016. Tesla started to sell the first cars in Korea around middle of 2017. At the beginning Tesla didn’t even qualify for the government incentives because Tesla’s battery needed more time to charge than what the Korean government included in their criteria for electric cars that are allowed to receive incentives. However, the criteria have been adjusted and a Tesla can receive purchase incentives and other benefits as well.

Policy measures supporting the uptake

Korea provides a wide range of incentives for electric vehicles:

purchase incentives of 16 to 23 million Korean Won (KRW);

(KRW); plenty public charging stations;

50% reduction of tollgate fees;

reduction of tollgate fees; and free or reduced parking fees at public parking lots.

At first, the purchase incentives sound very amazing but there is an issue with them: There aren’t enough.

Besides the long waiting time for a popular electㄱic car model the reason why not more electric cars have been sold is a lack of available purchase incentives. Up to 18 million KRW are provided as purchase incentive per electric car but the number of purchase incentives is limited. The purchase incentives consist of around 12 million KRW directly by the national government and then between 4 and 11 million KRW (depending on municipality and type of zero emission vehicle) through the local government. In Seoul, for example, purchase incentives have been available for around 1,700 electric cars in 2018. So it basically means that people who want to buy electric cars in Korea have to hurry up and get a new vehicle before all the incentives for the current year are used up. So again, the combination of long waiting time and limited incentives makes a electric car purchase feel almost like a gamble.

Last year the purchase incentives dried up very quickly and it was extended once, as far as I remember (I couldn’t find any sources during my research). The Ministry of Environment (which is in charge of subsidies for zero emission vehicles) supported the purchase of 32,000 zero emission vehicles in 2018 (almost identical to total sales numbers, no surprise). For 2019, it was raised to 57,000 vehicles and thus, we can expect that in this year more electric cars will be sold than in any of the years before.

Range anxiety

A major general concern of electric car drivers is that they end up somewhere along the road without power. And a specific issue for Korea is that many people live in apartment complexes with shared parking. So where do they charge their vehicles?

First, let’s discuss the issues of home charging but living in an apartment. It might be possible to find normal electric sockets in a parking garage but it would mean that you are “stealing” the electricity as any electricity used in parking garage are paid by all apartment residents. However, there’s a solution by a company (I know the founder and inventor of this system) that allows you to plug-in an adapter that will keep track of how much energy you used and charge you, not the apartment community with the costs. Here’s a picture of the tech:

I see it as a good solution for Korea’s case. Of course, the plug-in adapter needs to be purchased and I’m not sure if it requires anything else in terms of preparations/installations. It will only allow slow charging which is normal for home-based, private chargers. Unless energy companies start to work together with construction companies and install a large number of electric chargers in apartment parking garages, this will be the only solution for apartment owners who want to charge at home.

Public chargers are more important in Korea than in many other countries (as we saw above). And yes, there exist plenty of public charging stations (fast and slow chargers) in Seoul and along major expressways. There is no issue in finding a public charging spot most of the times and as Korea doesn’t yet have a standard for electric sockets, charging stations provide sockets for all types.

Public charging infrastructure in Seoul. Parking is for free for vehicles who want to charge.

A great advantage of public charging is that it allows you to park for free. Usually car users have to pay at public parking lots. But using the parking lot to charge a vehicle allows them to use the parking for free.

Daegu even provides free charging for all people at their public chargers. It draws electric car owners from the nearby areas to Daegu. People buying a Hyundai Kona receive two years of free charging at public charging points. Imagine that someone would pay two years of gas for buying a new car?! It’s crazy and even though it’s a huge bonus point, I’m not a supporter of such incentives.

In addition to the public charging points there are also a lot of private charging stations that can be used by anyone. In the picture below you can see charging spots at the Lotte World Mall:

Lotte even provided free charging and free parking until a couple of weeks ago. It became very popular and despite having 8 charging spots (most of them providing fast charging), there was a waiting line on weekends. Now people have to pay for the parking while the charging continues to be for free.

In the parking garage of the Lotte World Mall you can find Tesla Superchargers. Just a few Tesla’s superchargers exist in Korea but it’s expanding and more superchargers are being added nationwide.

The other benefit of electric cars in Korea is a reduced tollgate fee. Electric car owners pay half of what you would normally pay when using highways.

Cheaper than a diesel car?

Let’s take a very general look at the energy costs: According to the environment ministry, the costs of fossil fuel for a 100 km ride are in average 11,480 KRW (they do not specify diesel/gasoline). An electric car uses for 100 km electricity in the value of 4,970 KRW, that’s less than 50%! I find a lot of sources saying that the price per kWh charged at the public charging points is 173.80 KRW (please feel free to calculate the costs for your desired electric car and compare it to a conventional car).

Thus, if you look at total costs of ownership (let’s say 10 years), people with an electric car will save a lot of money in comparison to an owner of a fossil-fuel powered vehicle. Despite the subsidies, the purchase of an electric car is more expensive. However, over the years the costs for energy, expressway usage etc. are lower and very quickly you will see that you spent less money for a private vehicle.

But a major issue for me is that many of these incentives will induce people to drive more than before. A main reason why the global vehicle fleet has to shift to electric vehicles is due to the need to reduce carbon emissions and fossil energy demand. But, as Korea’s power sector still has low levels of renewable energy, the transport sector has to reduce the overall energy demand as well.

As described above, providing free charging and in conclusion free driving isn’t a favorable incentive. More driving will minimize the benefits of electric cars in Korea, which should be less air pollution, less noise and less greenhouse gas emissions.

Issues with electric cars in Korea

There are only a few issues with electric cars that I would see as a particular issue for Korea: parking in lots for charging and the complexity of information.

There have been a few situations where a conventional car was parked in the charging spot for electric vehicles. I believe that many people just don’t really think that there will be somebody coming to charge his vehicle. The fine for parking in electric charging spots is 100,000 KRW. This issue might disappear with increasing awareness that electric cars exist.

Car blocking the spots for electric cars in front of a charger.

The more severe issue is that it’s unbelievable complex to acquire any information about electric cars. It’s a bit more difficult than just buying a car because owners need to apply and receive a charging card to use the public charging points. And there are different public charging systems provided by different stakeholders.

As I wrote, my parents-in-law bought an electric car last year. It was the first electric car that the car dealer in their neighborhood had sold and so he didn’t know a lot and was barely a help. We received a lot of information from online communities of electric car owners in Korea.

The public chargers don’t work completely flawless. There have been a few occasions where the charger didn’t want to start the charging process and just showed an error. The only solution was to call the service hotline and have them remotely reset the terminal. However, besides that the terminals are clean and there are online maps where you can search for public chargers and even see if they are being used right now.

Sources: The Korea Herald | Global EV Outlook 2019