In South Korea, 3 out of 10 newly registered taxis in the past three years were electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor Group interpreted that the application of the electric vehicle-exclusive platform E-GMP has led to the expansion of electric taxi adoption domestically.
According to data from the Korea Automobile Mobility Industry Association on the 30th, from 2021 to 2023, a total of 33,400 electric taxis were registered in South Korea over the recent three years. Electric taxis accounted for about 30% of the total 111,583 newly registered taxis during the same period.
Comparing three years before and after 2021, when Hyundai Motor Group launched the electric taxis Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 equipped with E-GMP, the proportion of electric taxis increased about 13 times. From 2018 to 2020, electric taxis accounted for only about 2.3% of newly registered taxis.
The most registered electric taxi model in the past three years was the Ioniq 5 (14,804 units). E-GMP-based models, including the EV6 and Ioniq 6, accounted for 78% of electric taxi registrations during the same period.
Within Hyundai Motor Group, the taxi operation trims are only available for the Ioniq 5 and Niro Plus. If one wants to operate electric vehicles such as the EV6 or Ioniq 6 as taxis, they must purchase a regular vehicle first and then modify it.
Taxi driver Kim Byung-chul (50), who has been operating an EV6 as a taxi since September 2021, said, "I have driven over 300,000 km, but all performance aspects, including driving range, have been maintained like new," adding, "The key is mostly slow charging habits, but various functions such as the vehicle's own battery management system (BMS) seem to work organically."
A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "The positive experiences of taxi drivers who have operated electric vehicles longer than anyone else will dispel public misunderstandings about electric vehicles and accelerate electrification."
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