Electric Vehicles in South Korea Surpasses 500,000 Mark

Electric vehicles are gaining popularity in South Korea, and the cumulative number of units sold in the country has already exceeded 500,000. This shows that more and more people are buying EVs, especially now that 300,000 charging stations have been installed throughout the region.

According to The Korea Economic Daily, the number of EVs given was based on last year's registrations. It was also noted that this is the first time EV chargers in the country have reached more than 300,000 units, meaning that around 1.8 EVs are using one charger.

Electric Vehicle Registrations in Korea

The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), the Integrated Zero Emission Vehicle Portal, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) stated that EV registrations from 2017 reached 543,900 units in 2023. This figure shows a 39.5% increase compared to the previous year when just 389,855 units were registered.

In 2020, the number of EVs reached 134,962 units, the first time registrations had hit more than 100,000 units. The figure has been growing since then, and there could be a new number now as it has been months since the last record was updated.

Hyundai’s IONIQ EV

Chosun Business reported that Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 electric vehicle was listed as the model and brand with the highest registration in South Korea. It sold 70,756 units in total.

While EVs and chargers are climbing by about 100,000 per year, the growth rate has slowed over the last two years. This is because as more charging stations are built, the number of electric vehicles per charger slowly diminishes as well. Meanwhile, as of last year, the number of chargers supplied was 305,309, with 270,923 slow chargers and 34,386 rapid chargers installed.

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