Green Cars Expected to Account for 33% of Auto Sales in 2030
The 10th Automotive Industry Development Forum took place on Oct. 21. There, participants predicted that the ratio of green car sales would reach approximately 33 percent in 2030 as a result of environmental regulations and IT-automotive convergence and Level 2 self-driving and Level 4 self-driving would be attained in 2027 and 2035, respectively.
In addition, they pointed out that South Korea still has a far way to go when it comes to the development of electric vehicle and self-driving car parts.
“As for EV parts, South Korea is comparable to industry leaders when it comes to battery management systems and drive motors but it is not so when it comes to battery pack, inverter and converter technologies,” the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association pointed out, adding, “In the case of hydrogen vehicles, South Korea is competitive in fuel cell stack and driving system while it is heavily dependent on imports in hydrogen storage and charging station components.” At present, South Korean companies are capable of supplying 95 percent of hydrogen vehicle components, and yet the figure drops to 40 percent or so in the case of hydrogen charging station components.
“South Korea’s sensor technology for use in self-driving vehicles is at 30 percent to 80 percent of those of the United States and Germany and its precision motor technology and the like are also inferior,” the association went on to say, continuing, “This is why South Korea’ import dependence is 100 percent in the case of Lidar sensors.”
Still, South Korean auto parts manufacturers’ solutions are inadequate. The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association recently conducted a survey with 185 companies in the industry and 34.8 percent of the respondents answered that their sales would decrease in the future car industry. Besides, only 16.1 percent of those with annual sales of 50 billion won or less were producing or working on future car parts and only 17.8 percent of those capable of manufacturing such parts were profitable in that business.