Electric Vehicle Exports from South Korea Increasing Rapidly

The Korea International Trade Association announced on Jan. 31 that South Korea’s battery electric vehicle (BEV) exports increased 65.9 percent to US$3.9 billion last year. “The exports exceeded South Korea’s hybrid car exports, US$2.5 billion, for the first time and South Korea’s green car exports totaled US$7.1 billion in 2020 with BEVs accounting for 54.7 percent,” it said.

Last year, the BEV exports to the United Kingdom, France and Italy jumped 624.3 percent, 112.2 percent and 260.2 percent, respectively. When it comes to Norway, BEVs accounted for 97.3 percent of the vehicles South Korea exported.

South Korea’s green car exports to Europe accounted for 68 percent of its total green car exports last year, when Europe constituted 20.4 percent of South Korea’s total automobile exports.

According to the association, South Korea is a leading player in the global green car market. As for exports for the first three quarters of 2020, South Korea ranked fourth in BEV and plug-in hybrid vehicle exports and fifth in overall green car exports. In addition, its hydrogen EV exports showed a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent and its hydrogen truck exports to Europe began in July last year. In the global EV battery market, South Korean companies recorded the second-, fourth- and fifth-highest market shares in January to November last year.