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On Day 1, Hyundai Motor Company’s hydrogen car Nexo waits in line to charge at the ‘H Gangdong Hydrogen Charging Station’ in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, operated by GS Caltex. The number of registered hydrogen domestic vehicles surpassed 10,000 in October, but only three places can be charged in Seoul. Reporter Kim Youngwoo [email protected]
Son Mo (Bangi-dong, Seoul), who bought an electric car late last year, calls himself a ‘cargo refugee’. On a weekend day, at least 1 to 5 hours are lost on charging. When he bought an electric car, Son did not worry about the problem of charging. This is because there is a charger in the apartment complex parking lot. However, in the management office, “other residents cannot install and share their personal capacity.” I filed a complaint with Songpa-gu’s office, but only received the same response. The installation of a common charger was requested through the meeting of tenant representatives, but has been in the news of the audit for several months. In the end, Son is rapidly charging for about 40 minutes at the Olympic Park, which takes about 20 minutes by car. If there is no place for a fast charger, there are days when it charges for 5 to 6 hours.
The supply of electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles is one of the main tasks of the government’s Green New Deal. The government’s goal is to supply 1.13 million electric vehicles and 200,000 hydrogen vehicles by 2025. However, the reality is that it cannot even charge 120,000 electric cars and 10,000 hydrogen cars, which is only 10% of the goal.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, at the end of last October, there are 33,000 public electric vehicle chargers that can be used by 12,258 registered electric vehicles in Korea. It costs 25 gigabytes for every 100 electric vehicles. The minimum standard for experts is 150 units per 100 units. There are around 60,000 non-public chargers installed by individuals, but as in the case of Son, it is often a “rice cake”.
Most major countries exceed 150 units per 100 units. The number of electric vehicle chargers in the US is 185.3 per 100 units, seven times that of Korea. The main European countries such as the United Kingdom (318.5 units) and Germany (230.4 units) exceed 200 units.
Many common chargers do not work properly. According to the Ministry of the Environment and the Korea Environment Corporation’s “ public information of fast charger charging history ”, out of 2,896 fast chargers nationwide, 1,164 units out of 2,896 fast chargers in the country were charged less than one once a day, which represents 40.1% of the total.
Hydrogen charging stations are worse. At the end of October, the number of registered hydrogen vehicles is 1.41 units, with only 39 charging stations. As some charging stations like Yangjae were suspended, there are only three charging stations available in Seoul: Sangam, National Assembly, and Hgang-dong.
20 minutes to the charging station, 90 minutes to a quick charge … “Shows up every weekend”
Borrowers affected by lack of shippers
The government offers various incentives to buyers of electric cars. First of all, a subsidy of about 10 million won comes from the purchase. There are also reductions in parking fees and highway tolls. Various taxes on gasoline and diesel are also exempt from recharging electric vehicles. This is a benefit to increase the diffusion of green vehicles. However, consumers see these benefits as “allowances to accept discomfort.” That said, there are many drawbacks to buying an electric car and driving it.
The charger is small, but it cannot be used well
Cargo is the biggest problem. For an internal combustion locomotive, it takes 2-3 minutes to add oil. Electric vehicles take at least 20 minutes to a maximum of 90 minutes with a fast charger and more than five hours with a slow charger. This is the reason why the fast charging infrastructure must be installed closely. The government has promised: “We will make it possible to charge comfortably anytime, anywhere, like a smartphone,” but in reality, infrastructure construction is not accelerating for various reasons.
Absolutely insufficient number of chargers. According to statistics recently released by the National Federation of Entrepreneurs, citing data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), as of last year, the number of common electric vehicle chargers in Korea was about 23,000. Compared to major countries such as China with 2.91 million units, the United States with more than 1.63 million units, Germany (360,000 units), France (350,000 units), Norway (330,000 units), and Japan (220,000 units). units).
Even the smallest chargers are not used correctly. Unauthorized occupancy, where most complaints occur, is serious. An apartment complex in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, removed a charging station installed two years ago last month. When a resident who owns an electric car used the charging station as a private parking lot, the ‘charm’ of other residents rained down. At this apartment complex, there were frequent disputes among residents over parking issues. The women’s association concluded the situation by saying: “If there are more electric cars, I will install them again.”
Point out that it is a government-driven limitation
Experts note that the lack of charging infrastructure is due to the limitations of government-led projects.
Currently, the charging station business is run by the Ministry of the Environment. The Environment Ministry is using a “two-way strategy” that expands fast chargers 50 deh or more through its own, and slow chargers around 7 ㎾h through general operators. However, if you know where a private company is said to be, most of them are public companies.
Besides KT and POSCO ITC, there are no pure private companies. However, most of them don’t want to grow their charger business in the long term. An industry official said: “Many people started their business thanks to government subsidies.” The Ministry of the Environment has been subsidizing private companies since 2017. Each unit cost 5 million won for shared use, 4 million won to complete, and 3 million won for non-public use. Companies in ‘Dantaseong’ seeking subsidies were on the rise. There were problems like impersonating a civil servant, or the broker got money in the middle and installed a shitty charger.
I need a fast charger, but the speed keeps increasing
The government also has an alternative. The main objective is to increase the number of chargers in “place”. An official from the Environment Ministry said: “We will supply many chargers mainly to homes and workplaces.” The proposal of the Ministry of Environment is to increase it to 500,000 units by 2025. Most of them focus on the use of points of sale for parking lots of common houses, such as apartments and villas. As the effect of increasing expensive chargers by subsidizing them will not be effective, it will be possible to use only the charging system at the outlet.
Household electrical outlets are for 2 ~ 3hrs, and it takes about 33 hours to fully charge the 64h Kona EV. There are still many disputes among residents about the issue of charger occupancy, so there is concern that the greater the number of such chargers, the more disputes will be generated. Experts believe that it is necessary to increase the fast charger above 50 ㎾h. However, the government’s fast charger supply plan will double from 7,000 to 15,000 by 2025.
The cost of cargo is also increasing
Continuously increasing maintenance costs is another burden on electric vehicle users.
The charge for using the fast charger for electric vehicles was 313.1 won per ㎾h in 2016. Since 2017, the government has applied a special rate that significantly cuts this rate in half to supply green cars. However, the discount rate is gradually decreasing. The collection rate of the Ministry of the Environment and KEPCO was 255.7 won this year, 47% more than 173.8 won last year. Most private companies also receive more than 200 won. Some even doubled or tripled. For this reason, the fuel cost of electric vehicles compared to Kona-based gasoline vehicles has increased from 25% to 37%. When the discount disappears completely in 2022 and reaches 311.1 won, this proportion will rise to 44%.
Reporter Ahn Jae-kwang [email protected]
