The Republic of Korea’s response to COVID-19 has been among the most effective in the world. By combining aggressive testing with early isolation and treatment of those who test positive, Korea has lowered its infection rate while avoiding the need to lock down entire cities. The government reorganized hospitals to prevent infection, effectively distributed face masks, and will cover all COVID-related medical costs.
We report on plug-in vehicle sales in many markets, but we’ve only reported on South Korea’s electric vehicle sales twice over the years. Perhaps it’s time to start giving this major economy more attention. Electric vehicle (EV) market share in South Korea rose to 3.3% in March, and 2.3% in the first quarter as a whole.
CleanTechnica has previously covered transparent, two-layer solar film, but time flies — that was mostly back in 2012 and 2013.
The South Korean electric vehicle market doesn’t get the most attention, but it is bubbling up, with 2% of passenger vehicle sales in the country now EV sales. Similar to the USA, though, the market is dominated by just a few models.
In an article posted by EV Specifications, it reports that the publication The Elec says that industry sources from South Korea show that Tesla will produce its own batteries. They get their information from the fact that Daebo Magnetic will be the supplier of the electromagnetic filters that are needed to produce the batteries. Daebo Magnetic is a battery equipment manufacturer headquartered in South Korea. The sources also say that these products could possibly enter Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory by the end of this year.
South Korea is an interesting case in “Electric Vehicle World.” LG Chem, probably the most notable EV battery company not connected to Tesla, is based there. It seems like LG Chem has battery contracts with every single automaker (it might be more like 60%). SK Innovation and Samsung SDI, medium-sized battery producers, also call Korea home. And then there are Hyundai and Kia, or Hyundai–Kia if you combine them due to their intertwined investment structure. These large automakers have produced highly acclaimed electric vehicles, but they struggle to produce a large number of them — or just don’t care to do so.
Norwegian oil, gas, and wind company Equinor has announced this week that it will partner with Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and the Korean power company Korea East-West Power (EWP) to develop the 200 megawatt (MW) floating offshore wind project Donghae 1 off Ulsan in South Korea.
China, Japan, and South Korea continue to make flowery speeches about cutting carbon emissions while financing coal fired generating stations in other countries.
A sustainable and lasting peace between North and South Korea can succeed only if renewable energy is set as a fundamental cornerstone in the process, where a peace plan for the Korean peninsula should be based on 100% renewable energy.
Despite countless warnings and mounting economic evidence to the contrary, countries continue to expand the number of new coal-fired power plants, a push which is currently being led by China, Japan, and South Korea, according to the latest figures from CoalSwarm released last week.
