Gov't, major firms to use EVs only by 2030

Hyundai Motor's electric vehicle is charging at Mirae Asset Center One building in Seoul, July 5. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor

By Kim Jae-heun

The government and major companies are switching to electric vehicles (EVs), in accordance with management based on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles.

Samsung Electronics said it will replace more than 2,800 combustion-engine cars that are used for business purposes with EVs by 2030.

The company expects this will bring the same effects as planting about 780,000 trees that can reduce 6,200 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Hyundai Motor is contributing by selling 51,085 eco-friendly cars in the first half of this year. The figure increased by 35.5 percent from the 37,697 it sold in the same period of last year.

Specifically, Korea's top carmaker sold 30,986 hybrid cars, 15,683 EVs and 4,416 hydrogen-powered electric cars. In the case of EVs, the sales volume skyrocketed by 88.3 percent compared to the 8,329 cars it sold in the first half of 2020.

In the same period, Kia also sold 43,350 green cars: 34,487 hybrids and 8,863 EVs. The carmaker is expected to sell more EV cars in the near future as it started mass-produce its new EV model EV6.

In the imported car market, the craze for green cars is prominent too. According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, out of a total 147,757 imported cars sold here, 49,671, or 33.6 percent, were eco-friendly.

Most of them are said to be purchased by the central and regional governments.

President Moon Jae-in speaks about achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 11. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-suk

The government introduced the “K-EV100” project earlier this year that mandatorily selects 80 percent of its newly purchased cars as EVs and hydrogen cars only.

The government-led project was joined by 22 manufacturing firms, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, LG Electronics, SK Innovation, POSCO, Hanwha Solution and five financial institutions, including Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank and NH Bank. These private companies promised to change all of their cars to eco-friendly vehicles by 2030. Twenty-three rental service firms and 29 logistics companies also decided to take part recently.

The companies are introducing eco-friendly cars due to an increased emphasis on ESG principles. Company cars are driven a lot on the road and they emit high levels of carbon dioxide, so converting them to EVs or hydrogen cars can improve their ESG management scores.

The industry see more companies will speed up the introduction of eco-friendly company cars as the government has been emphasizing its Green New Deal and carbon neutrality.

“A growing number of government bodies and private companies are using eco-friendly vehicles for official use and business purposes. Their efforts to care about the environment are seen in the increasing sales of eco-friendly cars,” an industry source said. “However, lack of charging infrastructure for electric and hydrogen electric vehicles in the country is an assignment that need to be worked on.”