South Korea's exports of electric cars have surged this year thanks to higher demand from the U.S. and Europe.
For the year, industry watchers expect sales to hit 3 billion U.S. dollars.
Yoon Jung-min reports.
With increasing demand from overseas markets and more investment by South Korean car makers,... sales of Korean electric cars overseas have nearly doubled this year.
According to the Trade Ministry on Monday,... total shipments of electric cars amounted to over 2-point-5 billion U.S. dollars from January to October this year,... up 103 percent compared to the same period last year.
That jump comes amid a 6-point-7 percent rise in total automobile exports on-year.
Exports of electric cars have increased for 33 straight months,... and analysts expect sales this year to hit 3-billion dollars for the first time.
Electric cars made up 7 percent of all automobile exports in the January-to-October period.
The increase is mainly because of rising demand from large markets, including the U.S. and Europe. A government source has said more foreign consumers have looked for electric cars as prices have fallen for those vehicles.
Also, major automobile companies in Korea, including Hyundai Motors, have been constantly increasing their investments in future cars, including electric cars and hydrogen powered cars.
"To prepare for the eco-friendly car market, Hyundai Motors plans to release 23 types of electric cars by 2025 and currently we're developing platforms for those cars. We expect to invest nearly 35-billion dollars on future mobility technology by 2025."
Along with the rising demand for electric vehicles,... demand for secondary batteries and energy storage systems has also increased.
The ministry said shipments of secondary batteries were up more than 4 percent on-year to nearly 6-point-2 billion dollars from January to October this year.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.
