Lee urged not to repeat past eco-mobility failures

Electric vehicles are charged at the KINTEX convention center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, April 22. Yonhap

President Lee Jae-myung should prevent the recurrence of botched eco-friendly mobility policies pushed by former administrations by mapping out more concrete long-term strategies, experts and industry officials said Wednesday.

Lee took office tasked with the revival of the nation’s key industries, as they are at risk of losing growth momentum here and abroad amid unfavorable economic circumstances and increasing trade pressure from the United States.

The automobile sector is particularly vulnerable to these risk factors, with most carmakers reporting a drastic drop in auto sales. The industry is in dire need of policy support from the new administration to tackle an escalating set of uncertainties.

Auto experts and industry watchers said the government should learn from past mistakes in eco-friendly policies.

Lee pledged to make the market share for electric vehicles (EVs) exceed 50 percent by 2030, in line with a global shift towards more eco-friendly forms of mobility. However, experts argued the pledge is unfeasible during his five-year tenure, as infrastructure for the spread of EVs remains very weak in Korea.

“It requires a corresponding electricity production infrastructure to realize a 50-percent EV penetration rate, but there is a huge gap between the reality and the ideal,” said Lee Ho-geun, an automotive engineering professor at Daeduk University. “At best, the figure will rise to 20 percent for the next five years.”

According to data from the Korea Automobile and Mobility Association, EVs accounted for merely 5.7 percent of domestic vehicles last year.

President Lee Jae-myung arrives at the presidential office in Seoul, Wednesday. Joint Press Corps

The expert also took issue with inconsistent policy drives from each administration.

“Former President Moon Jae-in advocated hydrogen vehicles and provided support for their growth, but the stance did not continue after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was inaugurated in 2022,” Lee said.

Carmakers have to make investments worth trillions of won to shift to different kinds of vehicle engines, but invested capital is wasted if the government changes direction, according to the professor.

He proposed the government train civil servants with expertise in environmentally friendly transportation, and exclude them from rotation duty to keep them working in the same division for policy consistency.

“We need a 10-year plan, at least, for the sustainable growth of eco-friendly mobility,” Lee said. “However, the status quo shows otherwise. Under the current political structure, Korea cannot make its auto industry more competitive in the global market.”

During the Moon administration from 2017 to 2022, the government aimed for more than 1.13 million EVs and 200,000 hydrogen cars by 2025, but the plan fell far short of expectations. According to data from the Ministry of Environment, Korea supplied some 711,890 EVs by the end of 2024.

Industry officials also advised the incumbent administration to set up more concrete policies amid toughening auto competition abroad.

“The government needs to present more detailed policies for each type of eco-friendly mobility, so they can gain more competitiveness on the global stage,” an industry official said.