[기자수첩] Can I ride an electric car without’home meal’ this year?

Input 2021.02.26 11:00

“I don’t have home or company meals. Can I buy an electric car?”

This is a question commonly found in the domestic electric vehicle community. Housebap refers to a charger for electric vehicles installed at home or near the house, and company meal refers to a charger installed in company facilities. It has been more than five years since the introduction of eco-friendly cars including electric cars, but the inconvenience of eco-friendly car users remains.

The number of electric vehicles registered until last year is 13,4962. Compared to 2016 (10,855 units) when electric vehicles were first registered, it has increased by more than 12 times. On the other hand, the number of chargers installed until last year was 6,4188 nationwide. Arithmetically, one device per two can be used, but half of them are private chargers installed in certain facilities, buildings, and apartments, and cannot be used by the public.

As such, friction among electric vehicle users is also increasing. Since it is not easy to crack down on charging obstruction at every moment, there are many cases where a vehicle that has been charged is parked at a charging station that consumers have sought to visit. In the first half of last year, the number of complaints related to electric vehicle charging disruption in Seoul averaged 228 a month, up 49% from the same period last year.

Electric vehicle users connect to the community and ask for vacancy at nearby charging stations to find out which charging stations are still available. There are enough bulletin boards for’real-time charging stations’ in each electric vehicle club community. When moving to a new apartment, check if there is an electric vehicle charging station in the apartment or nearby, and think about whether you can install a charger directly at home.

Recognizing this inconvenience, the government decided to increase the number of electric vehicle chargers to 500,000 units by 2025, or more than 50% of the number of units supplied, and to expand the number of ultra-fast chargers to 123 units this year. Currently, only 70 hydrogen chargers are planned to be increased to 450 by 25 years.

However, detailed schedules such as the charging station installation area and schedule have not been confirmed, and it is still unclear whether a sufficient amount of chargers will be introduced in the near future. In October of last year, President Moon Jae-in said at the Hyundai Motor Company’s Ulsan plant that ‘2022 will be the first year of the popularization of future cars and will invest 20 trillion won for eco-friendly mobility by 2025’. In order to keep the trend of electric vehicle conversion and the title of the world’s largest hydrogen vehicle owner, the infrastructure for new mobility must be established.