More Eco-friendly
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on January 17, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) registered in South Korea last year amounted to 10,855. The figure is about 31 times higher than 344 in 2011.
Most EV owners reside in Jeju Island so a half of EVs, totaling 5,629 units, was registered in the region. The share of environmentally friendly cars in all registered vehicles exceeded 1 percent, or 244,158 units, for the first time, boosted by the expanded supply of EVs.
Among eco-friendly vehicles, 87 hydrogen powered cars were registered last year. The figure had tripled from 29 in 2015. The number of hybrid cars registered jumped 33.6 percent to 233,216 from 174,620 a year ago.
The government plans to replace 30 percent of all sales of new cars, or 480,000 units a year, with environmentally friendly vehicles, including EV, by 2020.
The total car registrations came to 21,803,351 units last year, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier. It is equivalent to every 2.37 Koreans owning a car.
Currently, the number of locally produced cars newly registered stands at 20.16 million, accounting for 92.5 percent in total registrations, while the number of newly registered imported vehicles amounts to 1.64 million, taking up 7.5 percent. The share of imported cars grew from 0.3 percent in 1994 to 1 percent in 2004 and 2.1 percent in 2008, showing a continuous increase from 2011 to 2016.