As the global boom in electric vehicles continues to spread, the heat is especially on in Korea, where aggressive national goals promise to see a rapid rollout of cutting-edge technologies over the next few years. Car and infrastructure equipment makers alike are scrambling to the call for action.
Sales managers at Joong Ang Control, a Korean manufacturer of composite operating platforms for commercial and home-based electric car battery rechargers, have reason for optimism.
Korea is not known as an eco-car mecca, but may soon be. December 2015, the government unveiled an ambitious plan to dramatically increase production of environmentally friendly cars by 2020, as part of its effort to cut carbon emissions, curb climate change, and generate new growth momentum for its auto industry.
Policy goals released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MTIE) call for the annual domestic output of "green cars" (hybrid and electric-powered vehicles) to increase from 80,000 in 2015 to 920,000 over the following five years. It also targets the export of an additional 600,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the span.
As such, MTIE wants 20% of all vehicle sales to be comprised of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), pure electric vehicles (EV) and hydrogen fuel cell cars, up from just 2% in 2015, a tall order for Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Achievement of the goal would put Korea squarely on the map among green car leaders. As of mid-2014, there were a total of under 600,000 plug-in electric passenger cars and utility vans on the road in the entire world, according to the Centre for Energy and Hydrogen Research.
"In Korea, there are only a few thousand electric cars currently in use, but that number should at least quadruple to 11,000 to 12,000 by year-end," says Joong Ang sales manager Seung-Bum Lee through an interpreter at a recent renewable energy expo in Tokyo.
Seven different car makers have already fielded electric cars in Korea. They include Nissan's best-selling Leaf, the Kia Soul, the Samsung SM3 Z.E., and Chevrolet's Spark.
A newly expanded subsidy program makes owning an EV much easier than in the past. The government offers 15 million won (about $13,000) in subsidies for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), while and local governments offer tax incentives amounting to as much as 4.2 million won. In Jeju, a self-governing island province that aims to become carbon-free by 2030, total BEV subsidies come to around $20,000, double the maximum $10,000 subsidy available in California.
Benefits also include special parking privileges, exemption from congestion fees, reduced public parking fees, and lower electricity prices.
Interpreting services provided by Kyu Chah The government also aims to quadruple the number of public rapid-charge stations to 1,400 by 2020, and provides subsidies of around 4 million won toward construction costs.
Joong Ang Control's rechargers are part of the mix; its fast charging unit can accomplish a 'fill-up' in about thirty minutes. Its machines are designed to service all makes and models universally.
For the residential market, where EV owners can go to sleep while the normal three- to four-hour charging time completes, the firm's home-based smart-grid system includes a mobile phone app that allows owners to track the recharge process while monitoring total household electricity management costs, and includes anti-hacking software.
"The subsidy system is luring a lot of competition to the recharger market, so providing a complete package of services as well as an affordable price is key to gaining and keeping customers," says Mr. Lee.
The company is now looking to enter the Japanese market but admits that the challenge is steep. Japan's plug-in EV market is the third largest after the United States and China, but dominated by domestic manufacturers.
Among automakers, Nissan's Leaf has the largest share of the market there, followed by Toyota's Prius hybrid and Mitsubishi's Outlander. The Japanese government plans to deploy 2 million slow chargers and 5,000 fast charging points by 2020.
"We're just getting started in Japan, but our core market will likely remain in Korea for now," says Mr. Lee. "About one-third of registered cars in Korea still run on diesel, so it is a good place to push the changeover to electric vehicles."
