Battery and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle targets

Except for biodiesel, South Korea’s government does not mandate the use of alternative fuels. Instead, it promotes the use of low- and zero-emission vehicles (also known as environment-friendly vehicles), e.g. hybrid/electric vehicles (EV)/natural gas/liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vehicles, over conventional vehicles by granting subsidies and/or preferential taxes.

In 2010, the government launched an EV deployment plan, aiming to have 1 million units on the road by 2020. In fact, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) set a target for environment-friendly vehicles to account for 20% of all vehicles registered in South Korea by 2020. This initial plan was modified by the government to reduce the 2020 EV target from 1 million