Korea touts resort island as premium EV test bed

SEOGWIPO, South Korea -- Automakers from around the world are flocking to South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju. Why? It's an ideal, nature-made test bed for electric cars.

The latest arrival is Hyundai Motor Co., which picked Jeju for the domestic launch of the all-electric variant of its new Ioniq eco-vehicle.

Drivers on the compact island find range anxiety an afterthought. A typical electric car can almost circle the coastline on a full battery charge.

What's more, local authorities aim to transform the island into an EV-only zone by 2030, with the entire province and its vehicle fleet powered by renewable energy by then. Indeed, the South Korean government is positioning Jeju as a global test bed for ambitious plans to promote EVs, in part to support Hyundai's rapid rollout of electrified cars.

Some 2,300 EVs are already on the roads of Jeju, nearly half the 5,500 in operation nationwide. With Jeju's population of some 600,000 people, that makes the province the world's biggest EV market, at least on a per-capita basis, says Kim Hyoung-eun, director of the local government's energy industry division.

The government in Seoul aims to have 200,000 EVs on the country's roads by 2020. This year, the government aims to put some 8,000 EVs on the nation's roads, with half earmarked for Jeju.

"The power grid and compact layout of Jeju provides the perfect conditions for a test laboratory," Kim said on the sidelines of the International Electric Vehicle Expo held here in March.

Jeju aims to go green mainly by harnessing the island's blustery offshore winds. The western shore has some of the strongest gales in the country.

A dense recharging infrastructure is quickly mushrooming on the 713-square-mile island known for its towering volcano. Already, there are 2,566 chargers, including 115 quick ones. The goal is 75,000 by 2030, including 4,100 fast chargers, Kim said.

The Jeju plan calls for deploying EVs in the fleets of local governments, taxi operators and rental-car companies, as well as in private garages with the help of generous incentives.

Seven EV models are sold in Jeju. Topping the list is the Renault Samsung SM3 Z.E., which is based on the Renault Fluence sold in Europe and is the No. 1 EV in all of South Korea. Others include the Nissan Leaf, Kia Soul, BMW i3 and Chevrolet Spark EV. That international flavor is particularly striking in South Korea, where non-Korean brands generally struggle.

Park Donghoon, who moved up from executive vice president to become CEO of Renault Samsung on Friday, April 1, says the automaker delivered 1,000 EVs in 2015 in South Korea and aims to double that to 2,000 in 2016. He wants 25 percent of the local EV market.

But newcomer Hyundai could soon be the dominant player.

The Ioniq Electric, with a range rated at 180 kilometers (112 miles) in South Korea, reaches showrooms here in June. It lands in the U.S. and Europe in the second half of the year.

Hyundai aims to sell 5,000 to 6,000 Ioniq Electrics globally this year, with about 2,500 expected to go to South Korean buyers. Hyundai hasn't released targets for the U.S. or Europe. Next year, Hyundai aims for global sales of 10,000 units.

Jeju's EV boom also is attracting startups. For example, Begins Co., founded in 2009, is piloting an electric bus fleet for Jeju that recharges spent buses by swapping out depleted batteries at a changing station. The company also wants to build and sell a street-legal roadster based on the electric race car developed by France's Pariss Electric.