An electric vehicle charging station installed in an underground parking garage (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of imported electric vehicles (EVs) newly registered in South Korea fell 40.1 percent on-year over the August-September period, data showed Wednesday, amid the public’s lingering concerns over their safety.
According to data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, 6,868 imported EVs were newly registered in South Korea over the two-month period, sharply down from the 11,462 tallied a year earlier.
In August, the figure came to 4,115, with the number further declining in September to reach 2,753.
It marked the first time since 2021 that the two-month tally has been below 10,000.
Market analysts attributed the decrease to growing safety concerns about EVs in South Korea, following a massive fire caused by a Mercedes-Benz EV in early August that ended up damaging over 100 vehicles and destroying an underground apartment parking garage in Incheon, west of Seoul.
The incident has prompted some local parking lots to fully or partially ban the entry of EVs.
In September, Tesla stood as the most popular EV brand with 1,349 newly registered cars, followed by BMW with 454 and Audi with 348. Volkswagen, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz posted 267, 166 and 105, respectively.
(Yonhap)
