By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Low-speed electric cars will be used by Seoul City officials as early as next month.

The neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) will also be used to serve state leaders at the G-20 Summit this November in the Korean capital, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday.

The NEVs are recharged by being plugging into a standard power outlet. Vehicles with lithium polymer batteries cost around 20 million won.

Fifteen vehicles will be deployed by June at fire departments. Another 20 will be introduced in the latter half of the year, for patrol and parking management at World Cup Park in northern Seoul.

The park will be designated as a "Zero Emissions Zone" before the international summit, allowing access only to environmentally-friendly cars such as electric cars, electric buses and hydrogen fuel-cell cars.

To encourage the use of NEVs, the city plans to install battery rechargers at public spots such as department stores and post offices. Users will be able to pay for the recharging service with their T-money public transportation cards.

A law will be put into effect from March 30, under which local administrators can designate specific areas for NEV use. Areas with little traffic were the first to be considered for the deployment.

The U.S., Canada and many other countries are also encouraging NEVs to be driven on streets with speed limits of 72 kilometers per hour or less. Seoul plans to regulate the speed to less than 60 kilometers per hour.

"We will give tax benefits to NEV drivers in the future," Lee In-geun, a Seoul City official, said.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr