Hyundai-Kia reported a ~200% increase in electric vehicle exports this year

Hyundai-Kia Motors had exported 32,755 electric vehicles from South Korea since January 2018. This compares well to the 16,026 units it had exported in 2017. The company expects to export as many as 1,245 more e-vehicles by the end of the year. This report, published in the South Korean media outlet ETNews, may be an encouraging indication that the uptake of electric personal vehicles is slowly but steadily growing, and is diversifying beyond the by-now traditional option of cars from US-based Tesla.

The Hyundai and Kia brands offer electric vehicles such as the electric Ioniq and Kona, as well as the Soul EV. These vehicles reportedly accounted for most of the 2018 exports. The rest were made up by the Kia Niro EV and the Renault-Samsung SM3 ZE. The automotive group claims that its vehicles are also improving in terms of range, with the Kia Soul EV taking the title for most mileage in a domestic e-vehicle.

On the other hand, ETNews also reported that sales of vehicles of all fuel types is down 0.8% within South Korea, and that their total exports are up - but only by 0.9% - compared to last year. This means that the cumulative total of South Korean vehicle sales increased by 0.4% in 2018. This may reflect a growing trend of disinterest in conventional fuels for personal transport.

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