GOING ELECTRIC The complex decision to buy an electric scooter in Korea

An electric scooter is parked to the left of one that runs on gas at a parking garage in central Seoul Aug 12 Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

This is the first article in a multipart series about the trials and tribulations of becoming an electric scooter driver in Korea.

I have vague memories from my grade school days of watching the 1995 documentary film “It Runs on Water,” which taught me basically two lessons about alternative energy sources for vehicles. The first was that the people developing alternatives were mostly quacks, and the second was that the evil oil industry was taking every opportunity to keep alternative fuel sources down.

Now in the 2020s, electric vehicles are starting to appear everywhere, and they’re not weird. A close friend who wanted to be identified only by the name Morgan bought himself an electric scooter last year — not one of those kickboard things, a real road vehicle.

At first, I considered the thing a novelty, sort of how I felt when first encountering the internet in the 1990s, and cellphones in the early 2000s. It moved quietly, making only this weird whirring noise like a 1950s-era flying saucer in a sci-fi movie. Also, it possessed a quite odd feature not found in most gas-powered motorbikes and scooters: it had a reverse gear.

My friend wouldn’t stop talking about his new bike. He emphasized how easy it had been to buy — and cheap due to a generous government subsidy.

“I had been thinking about buying a scooter and a friend told me about the deal the government offered. I honestly did almost zero research,” he said. “They did everything for me. I just sent money and a picture of my ID.”

The company helped him apply for a very generous government subsidy, which brought the price of a brand-new vehicle down to under 500,000 won ($400) at the time. They seemed eager to help him acquire an eco-friendly vehicle, perhaps as the market was still new and demand was low.

When is the right time to go electric?

Going electric is still a big jump to make, and when to make the transition is a complicated question due to all sorts of factors. Also, choosing a vehicle can be confusing, as we're talking about all new sorts of companies that you probably haven't heard of before and that have not yet formed as solid a reputation as well-known automakers like Hyundai Motor or Kia.

In an op-ed published in June by The Guardian, written by none other than actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson, he pointed out that electric vehicles have zero exhaust emissions, but it’s a different story if you factor in the manufacturing process. The actor, who is best known for his roles as Blackadder and Mr. Bean, also claims he was an early adopter of eco-friendly vehicles. He cites a claim by Volvo that the manufacture of electric cars results in 70 percent higher emissions than combustion-engine ones, and that it would take nine years of use before the ecological balance is tipped in the electric car's favor.

I don't know if all these claims are accurate, or if they apply equally to scooters, but a saying I've heard echoed in my head: "The most eco-friendly vehicle is the one you already have."

So I figured my next scooter, whenever that would be, would be an electric one but for the time being I was determined to hold onto my existing one.

Then during this year's rainy season, my scooter's muffler started to give out, and the engine became so ear-splittingly loud that it was no longer legally roadworthy. On my last time driving it, pedestrians would turn to look at me, and I could only shrug helplessly — an experience Morgan would never have on his shiny new battery-powered wheels. When I found out a replacement muffler would be virtually impossible to source, as this was an old, discontinued model, I determined it was time to go electric, and then I could zip past everyone as quietly as a cloud.

A badly rusted muffler on an old scooter, July 28 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

As I began shopping around, I found that the market had changed significantly in the year since Morgan made his purchase. At that time, he said he bought a model called the Leo from a seller offering the e-scooter. But now there were five models available, and Morgan's was now the most basic, with the others all offering higher performance.

As well as an increased lineup, there were also more companies to choose from. Morgan mentioned Blueshark, a smart electric scooter brand from China that seemed pretty upscale.

It became clear to me that along with the selection increase, prices were increasing too. Not just in the direction the market was moving, but also because of a reduction in the government subsidy.

Currently, the subsidy on the purchase of an electric scooter is available only to Korean nationals, overseas Koreans on an F-4 visa or permanent residents holding an F-5 visa. One EV dealer told me that foreign customers must have a visa lasting longer than two years to be eligible.

The subsidy amount seems to be based on a handful of other factors as well: the jurisdiction in which you apply, and also the number of people applying for the same subsidy over a particular period. If too many people apply, I guess it drains the allocated subsidy budget. So as demand rises, subsidy supply appears to drop, as dealers and governments lose their hunger to place new customers on electric vehicles.

The further I looked into it, the more assured I felt in my decision to go electric.

To be continued…