Tesla and most other manufacturers and importers will continue to receive subsidies

South Korea will halt purchase subsidies for electric vehicles made by BYD, China's largest EV manufacturer, starting in July.

The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy announced Tuesday that 27 of 35 companies that participated in this year's newly introduced EV distribution project operator selection evaluation had been approved.

Companies not selected will be excluded from purchase subsidy eligibility.

Those approved as passenger EV distribution project operators include Kia, Renault Korea, Mercedes-Benz Korea, Volvo Car Korea, BMW Korea, KG Mobility, Tesla Korea, Volkswagen Group Korea, Polestar Automotive Korea and Hyundai Motor.

For electric freight vehicles, the approved operators are Kia, Dipico, Route17, Otek, EV&Solution, KG Mobility, Tata Daewoo Mobility, Korea Three-Axle and Hyundai Motor. For electric buses, Bumhan Automobile, iBus, MTR, Woojin Industrial Systems, EM Korea, KG Mobility Commercial, P-Line Motors and Hyundai Motor were selected.

[Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy]
[Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy]

BYD, which has been accelerating its push into the South Korean market, was not included among the approved operators.

However, manufacturers and importers that failed the evaluation but had previously been eligible for subsidies will still receive support for applications submitted by Tuesday.

The evaluation was introduced to ensure that only automakers and importers contributing to the domestic EV ecosystem receive purchase subsidies.

When the ministry released the evaluation criteria in March, critics argued that the standards unreasonably discriminated against foreign manufacturers by setting thresholds that only domestic producers could meet. Similar concerns were raised in the National Assembly.

In response, the ministry revised the criteria last month, adjusting items deemed disadvantageous to foreign manufacturers and significantly reducing the number of qualitative evaluation categories.


thlee@heraldcorp.com