New electric vehicle registrations in Korea surpassed 100,000 units this year, reaching the milestone about three months earlier than last year. Cumulative EV registrations also topped 1 million.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said Monday that annual cumulative new EV registrations exceeded 100,000 units as of the third week of April (April 11-17). As of the end of March, the number of EVs in Korea stood at 83,533, with an additional 23,406 EVs sold through the third week of this month. Since cumulative EV registrations stood at 981,321 at the end of last month, the figure is estimated to have surpassed 1 million as of the third week of April.
The pace of EV adoption this year is outpacing even 2025, which marked a record high. Last year, cumulative new registrations reached 100,000 only in the second week of July. In 2024, the same figure was reached in the second week of September. The acceleration is attributed to a wave of new EV launches, falling prices, and signs of prolonged high oil prices driven by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, prompting consumers to turn to EVs.
The share of EVs among new car sales has also climbed into the 20 percent range. Of the 415,746 new cars sold in Korea through the end of March, 83,533 units, or 20.1 percent, were EVs. The EV share of new car sales has risen rapidly, from 9.2 percent in 2023 to 8.9 percent in 2024 and 13.0 percent in 2025.
The surge in EV adoption has rapidly depleted local government subsidies. According to the Zero-Emission Vehicle portal, subsidies have been exhausted in about 50 of the 160 municipalities nationwide that provide EV subsidies, while more than 60 municipalities have used up over 90 percent of their allocations.
In response, the Ministry of Climate has secured additional EV subsidy allocations of 20,000 passenger vehicles and 9,000 cargo vehicles through a supplementary budget. The ministry is also revising the system to use central government funds to provide subsidies first when local government allocations run out, with local governments later repaying the central funds through additional budget allocations, ensuring that consumers are not blocked from purchasing EVs due to local funding shortages.
"This year will be recorded as a historic year that opens the era of 1 million EVs," Climate Minister Kim Sung-hwan said. "We will push forward effective and timely measures so that the public does not feel inconvenienced in using EVs."
