Seoul City Launches 3rd Phase of Eco-Friendly Electric Taxi Supply... Up to 18 Million KRW Support for 330 Vehicles

Additional 8 Million KRW Purchase Subsidy for Electric Passenger Cars Compared to Standard Models... Online Applications Open from the 2nd

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 26th that it is recruiting individual and corporate taxi operators to participate in the third phase of the eco-friendly electric taxi distribution project. Following the distribution of 300 electric taxis in two rounds in February and May, Seoul plans to accept applications for the third phase distribution of 330 vehicles starting from the 2nd of next month.

This additional distribution is being carried out by securing extra budget due to the significant number of transportation operators wishing to switch to electric taxis even after the initial 300 units allocated for this year were exhausted early in the first half. It is expected to assist taxi drivers who want to purchase domestically produced electric vehicles released in the second half of the year.

The subsidy amount remains the same as in the first and second phases, with purchase subsidies provided differentially based on vehicle price and performance. High-priced vehicles over 90 million KRW are excluded from subsidy support, while vehicles priced under 60 million KRW receive the maximum subsidy. Vehicles under 60 million KRW are supported up to 100%, those priced between 60 million and 90 million KRW are supported up to 50%, and vehicles over 90 million KRW receive no support.

Taxis travel 7 to 13 times longer distances daily than regular passenger cars, so switching to electric vehicles has a significant greenhouse gas reduction effect. Therefore, a maximum subsidy of 18 million KRW, which is 8 million KRW more than for regular passenger cars, is provided. Each electric taxi introduced reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 21.224 tCO2, and distributing all 630 units planned for this year will reduce approximately 13,371 tCO2 of greenhouse gases.

Seoul began distributing electric taxis with 60 units in 2015 and had distributed 1,335 units by July 2021. Upon completion of this second phase distribution, a total of 1,665 electric taxis will have been distributed.

Applications for participation in the electric taxi distribution project and subsidy requests will be accepted online through the Ministry of Environment’s Low Emission Vehicle Integrated Website starting from the 2nd of next month. More detailed information will be available on the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s website after the 2nd.

Baek Ho, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, said, “Thanks to the strong response from taxi operators to eco-friendly electric taxis, this year’s distribution quota was fully exhausted in the first half. We ask for much interest in this additional distribution as well.” He added, “We will continue to promote the distribution of electric taxis to achieve 100% eco-friendly taxis in Seoul by 2040.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.