Hyundai`s hydrogen electric car `Nexo` has been contracted for more than 700 cars a day in reserved sales. This year, the government provided about 240 hydrogen subsidies, three times more than the contract was signed in one day. Hyundai Motor plans to continue booking sales before its official launch next month, so Nexo contract volume is expected to increase further.

It is expected that there will be a `subsidy crisis` in which buyers of NEXO should compete for subsidies. Besides, the problem of hydrogen filling infrastructure that was lacking came to the board again as the purchaser of hydrogen electric vehicles increased significantly after breaking the forecast. Currently, there are only 12 hydrogen filling stations nationwide, and 6 of them are individual private ownerships and cannot be used by ordinary consumers.

The Korean government plans to deploy 10,000 electric vehicles by 2020 and 15,000 by 2022. However, until February this year, the number of cumulative distribution is only 187, and the number of subsidies this year is only 240, so it is a dominant observation that it is difficult to achieve such a supply plan. If the general public is willing to buy a hydrogen electric car rated as the most environmentally friendly car among the electric cars, it is pointed out that the government should increase the subsidies and the charging stations for hydrogen electric cars.

Hyundai Motor said it had sold 733 contracts on its first day of sales on March 19.

Hydrogen electric vehicles have advantages such as longer charging distance and short charging time than general battery electric vehicles, but they have not been properly distributed due to high vehicle price and insufficient charging infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Nexo`s single-charge mileage is 609km, which is more than 150km longer than the Tesla Model S 100D (451.2km), which has the longest single mileage of domestic electric vehicles. Unlike the Model S 100D, which takes about 40 minutes of rapid charge and 14 hours of slow charge, the neck shoot can be charged in 3 to 5 minutes. Hydrogen electric vehicles have been out of the government`s green procurement policy. Unlike the Ministry of Environment, which aims to supply 12,000 electric cars this year, there are only about 200 hydrogen electric cars.

The Ministry of Environment`s Ministry of Environment announced that it will be able to pay a total of 158 cars for a total of KRW 22.5 million. If you include the amount carried over last year, the total number of people to be paid is 240. If you add the subsidy of local governments, you can get a subsidy of up to KRW 35 million, so you can buy it at KRW 33.9 million ~ 37.2 million.

The problem is the hydrogen filling station. Unlike the electric car charging station, which costs about KRW 40 million, about 3 KRW billion (excluding land purchase cost) is needed to make hydrogen filling station. Currently, there are about 3,000 electric chargers installed in Korea, but there are only 12 hydrogen filling stations due to high charging cost and safety issues. The government has made 6 locations including Gwangju City, Chungnam Neppo, Gyeongnam Changwon, and Ulsan Metropolitan City, and 6 private companies including Hyundai Motor are operating. 6 private places are not available to general consumers.

Hyundai plans to open hydrogen filling stations in Seoul, Yangjae, Gyeongbuk, Namyang, and Ulsan, which are operated by the company after the launch of Nexo.

An official from the Ministry of Environment stated, "There are about 20 hydrogen filling stations to be built or to be built this year.”

The Ministry of Environment, which has already set the budget, has been forced to review the supplementary budget (supplementary budget) as demand for hydrogen cars has surged following electric cars. However, an official from the Ministry of Environment pointed out that "the number of hydrogen electric car reservations should lead to actual purchasing". Last year, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance predicted an increase in demand for electric cars this year and requested 30,000 units for subsidies.

By Kim Yang Hyuk mj@


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