Monday, March 24th, 2014
SEOUL, KOREA - Electric cars are gradually going mainstream, especially after the first International Electric Vehicle Expo held in Jeju for seven days from March 15 to 21.
Yang Eun-jung, a resident of Jeju Island who purchased an electric car three months ago, said, "I bought an Renault-Samsung SM3 ZE at 20 million won. I used to pay about 300,000 won a month for fuel cost when I drove a Hyundai Tucson Diesel, but now I pay only 30,000 won. I drive on average 70 kilometers a day with about 2 hours of recharging. There is no need to change oil, of course."
The island is uniquely advantageous for electric vehicles whose driving distance is about 100-150 km as it takes only 160 km to make a full circle of the island. Given the island's abundant charging station infrastructure of 497 locations (including 48 high-speed charging stations), EV drivers have little problem finding the next charging station.
Currently there are three Korean car makers that have plunged in the EV play, including Kia Motors, GM Korea, and Renault-Samsung. Of these, Renault-Samsung has been most aggressive. Last year the company sold 453 SM3 ZE's and plans to sell up to 3,000 electric cars this year. A Renault-Samsung official said, "Of the 3,000 cars, 90 percent will be supplied to government agencies, public enterprises, taxi companies, and car sharing operators while the remaining 300 will be sold to the general public."
Kia Motors, meanwhile, set its sales target at 800 including 300 Ray EV's and 500 Soul EV's. For the Soul EV, the company will start exporting to the United States and Europe from the second half this year and sell up to 5,000 next year. As for GM Korea which sold 58 Spark EV's last year, it has not yet revealed the sales plan for the domestic market for this year. But its Chevrolet EVs are much more popular in the U.S. market than in Korea. Last year alone, its EV exports the U.S. from the Changwon plant was 1,200.
Not to be outdone, import car makers are busy introducing electric car models. For example, BMW Korea has received shipments of 250 i3 electric cars from the headquarters, followed in the second half by i8, the plug-in hybrid vehicle. The Nissan Leaf, the model that sold more than 100,000 units worldwide, will be introduced in Jeju only where recharging station infrastructure is well developed. Volkswagen Korea will also introduce next year the Golf GTE, a plug-in hybrid, and the e-Golf, a full EV model.
According to the organizing committee for the International Electric Vehicle Expo, the total number of electric vehicles in Korea as of the end of last year was 1,871, of which 780 were sold in 2013. This is such a small portion in the world's electric vehicles (including hybrid cars) on the road at 95,000. But the number is expected to rise rapidly. According to Japan's Fuji Economic Research Institute, the global EV market is forecast to increase to 280,000 in 2015 and 1.37 million by 2020. Including hybrid cars, the number will be 2.64 million in 2015 and 7.88 million in 2020.