Korea aims to put 10k EV taxis on the road by 2025

Korea continues their aggressive push towards a carbon-neutral future with a new pledge to put a total of 10,000 zero-emission taxis on the road by 2025.

The Korean Ministry of Environment announced on Tuesday that they have signed a deal with Hyundai Motor and Kia, as well as the Seoul Metropolitan Government, SK Energy, Private Taxi Association, and Corporate Taxi Association.

These associations and companies will help the government achieve their goal to be carbon-neutrality by 2030.

To be accurate, the government’s pledge is to replace 15 percent of the country’s current taxi fleet with zero-emission electric vehicles. That accounts for 10,000 units in total. Currently, almost 250,000 taxis in Korea use LPG while around 3,000 vehicles are electric vehicles (EV).

Also read: Korea starts V2G ‘sandbox’ test – Using EVs as giant power banks to balance the grid

The plan will see Seoul City and the environment ministry provide subsidies to taxi drivers when they purchase a zero-emission electric vehicle.

They will also work with the energy provider, SK Energy, to install more power charging systems at convenient locations like taxi garages, vehicle change areas, and driver restaurants.

Also read: Nearly 100k Hyundai, Kia electrified vehicles sold in Korea in H1 2021 – Up nearly 40%

Meanwhile, Hyundai and Kia will introduce more EVs that can be used as a taxi in addition to the Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and new Kia Niro EV that were launched this year. As you know, Ioniq already has a series of EVs in the pipeline.

The government hopes that shifting the taxi community to zero-emission electric vehicles would be a significant contribution to improve the country’s air quality.

Also read: Koreans prefer larger SUVs while B-segment SUV sales drop 37.6% in H1 2021

Hyundai has 10 SUVs on sale globally and 3 of them are in the same segment, here’s a guide

Kia has more than 10 SUVs on sale! Here's a quick overview