South Korean EV sales rise amid air quality push

South Korea's sales of electric vehicles (EVs) are rising as its government expands its network of charging stations and takes other steps to tackle air pollution, offering accelerated demand growth for cobalt, nickel and other battery materials.

There were 26,375 EVs sold from October 2017 through to September this year, with demand projected to reach 30,000 units for 2018. This exceeds previous sales levels over 2011-17, according to South Korea's environment ministry. Sales for the 12 months to September are about double that of all of 2017, with the full-year 2018 target six times that of 2016 levels.

The ministry said demand for EVs has accelerated since a package of policy measures was introduced in September 2017 to reduce fine-dust emissions, including more government incentives and an increasing roll-out of charging infrastructure.

South Korea's government plans to add 1,866 rapid charging outlets this year, including 755 that had already been installed as of September. The 2018 target is double the number of rapid charging stations that were installed in all previous years combined.

The government sees the additions of more EV models further boosting demand. Seoul aims to increase the number of EVs on the road sevenfold by 2022 to 350,000. It is also the accelerating the retirement of coal-fired power plants and requiring pollution control upgrades to ensure lower emissions from the energy sources that will supply these vehicles.

Seoul aims to have 10,000 charging stations nationwide by 2022. The government also aims by 2022 to retire 77pc of the 2.86mn diesel vehicles in the country that were built prior to 2006.

South Korea's EV trend is keeping pace with global growth. The number of EVs in use globally in 2017 rose by 54pc from a year earlier to 3.1mn, led by gains in China. This will rise to about 125mn by 2030, the IEA forecasts.