Tesla Sells Only 1 EV During January In South Korea

(RTTNews) - Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. (TSLA) suffered a setback in South Korea as it sold only one car, a Model Y SUV, during January 2024, which marks the second worst month after July 2022, when it sold no EVs at all, according to a report from Seoul-based researcher Carisyou.

However, the downfall was not limited to Tesla, as the total number of EVs registered in Korea fell 80 percent in January across all car makers, primarily due to safety concerns, high prices, rising interest rates, a lack of charging infrastructure, and the public anticipation for subsidies from the government to purchase EV.

Tesla's Shanghai-made Model Y SUV was one of the top-selling cars in South Korea, as it sold around 13,885 units in 2023 alone. In a bid to make the EVs eligible for full government subsidy, Tesla had priced its Model Y at 56,990,000 won, equal to $43,000, in July.

"Most Koreans who wanted to buy Tesla's cars have bought one," Lee Hang-Koo, head of the Jeonbuk Institute of Automotive Convergence Technology said. "Some people don't like Tesla recently after finding some of them are made in China."

According to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, overall EV sales dropped 0.1 percent, to 157,823 units last year, amid concerns about battery fires.

In 2022, a plugged-in EV caught fire in a parking lot in Busan, spreading quickly to nearby vehicles, according to a report from the National Fire Agency. In another incident, a chauffeur died in the EV in 2020, when the car caught fire after crashing into a wall.

Another concern for Korean customers is the lack of charging infrastructure. According to the International Energy Agency, around 90 percent of charging stations in South Korea are equipped with slow chargers.

The Korean government is also planning to target China's lithium iron phosphate or LFP batteries, which cost less but have less energy density compared to high-performance nickel-cobalt-manganese or NCM batteries. It is also pushing towards slashing EV subsidies for cars with Chinese batteries.

In a relief for Tesla, Lee added that many people avoided buying EVs in January because they might have wanted to wait for the government's announcement of subsidies.