Electric vehicles take up 9.3% of South Korea’s newly purchased cars

A cable is connected to a Volvo AB XC40 electric sports utility vehicle displayed at the EV Trend Korea exhibition in Seoul in March 2022. - Bloomberg

SEOUL: Electric cars accounted for 9.3% of newly purchased cars in South Korea last year, data shows, hovering above that of other major counterparts, including the United States and Japan.

Electric vehicles (EVs) took up 162,507 of 1.74 million cars sold in South Korea in 2023, according to the data compiled by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry. The ratio marked a significant rise from just 1.9% tallied in 2019.