South Korea’s annual electric vehicle (EV) supply topped 200,000 units for the first time this year, reflecting broader national efforts to curb fossil fuel use and decarbonise the transport sector.
EV supply reached 201,000 units as of 13 November, doubling from 2021 when annual volumes first crossed 100,000, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said on 16 November. South Korea launched its EV deployment programme in 2011.
Passenger EVs made up the bulk of this year’s supply at 172,000 units, followed by 2,400 electric buses and vans and 26,000 electric trucks.
Domestic manufacturers accounted for 55 per cent of passenger EVs, 64 per cent of electric buses and vans, and 93 per cent of electric trucks.
The domestic share of electric buses, which had fallen to 46 per cent in 2023, recovered to 63.3 per cent last year and 63.7 per cent this year, according to the ministry.
Hydrogen vehicle uptake also strengthened, with supply reaching 5,900 units as of 13 November, compared with 3,800 in 2024 and 10,300 in 2022. Combined EV and hydrogen vehicle stock now totals 950,000 units and is expected to exceed 1 million early next year.
The ministry said EV uptake increased because subsidy guidelines were set earlier, allowing incentives to be rolled out sooner, and because automakers released more new models.
South Korea offers national purchase subsidies, tax breaks, including cuts to acquisition and consumption taxes, and additional top-ups for groups such as first-time young buyers and multi-child households.
Subsidy amounts are tied to factors like vehicle range, price and charging performance, and cities and provinces often provide their own local subsidies on top of national support.
The ministry added that expanding charging infrastructure has also further supported adoption. The number of fast chargers has risen from 10,000 in 2020 to 52,000 last month, while slow chargers have grown from 54,000 to 420,000 over the same period.
Newer EVs also provide substantially longer driving ranges and faster charging speeds.
Climate minister Kim Sung-hwan called this year’s rapid uptake “encouraging”, describing EVs as a central pillar of transport decarbonisation. He said the government aims for EVs and hydrogen vehicles to make up more than 40 per cent of new car sales by 2030 and over 70 per cent by 2035.
In South Korea, EVs reached nearly 18–20 per cent of new car sales in mid-2025. In much of Asia, uptake remains lower – Indonesia’s EV share was just over 7 per cent in 2024, while recent figures for Japan and India are less consistent.
South Korea has approved its 2035 national greenhouse gas reduction target, pledging to cut emissions by 53 to 61 per cent from 2018 levels.
Under its new nationally determined contribution (NDC), the country aims to lower emissions to between 348.9 million and 289.5 million tonnes by 2035, from 742.3 million tonnes in 2018.
The transport sector faces one of the steepest cuts, with a reduction target of 60.2 to 62.8 per cent – equivalent to a drop from 98.8 million tonnes in 2018 to as low as 36.8 million tonnes in 2035.
Separately, Seoul announced it will join the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), a coalition pushing to end the use of unabated coal power, as Brazil hosts the COP30 climate talks in Belém.
While the pledge does not set a date for ending all of South Korea’s unabated coal use, it marks the government’s first commitment to halt new unabated coal plants and phase out existing ones.
