As early as Oct., electric vehicles will be available at prices 40% lower than the sticker price. That is because a "battery subscription" program, which allows drivers to lease the battery from a leasing company and accounts for 40% of the vehicle's price, will be implemented.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it convened the 8th Mobility Innovation committee and approved 16 regulatory special-case items, including a service that separates ownership of the EV battery from the vehicle so buyers can purchase only the body and subscribe to the battery from a leasing company for a monthly fee.
Under the current Motor Vehicle Management Act, it has been difficult to separate ownership of the vehicle body and the battery, but a special exception has been granted to make it possible.
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Hyundai Motor plans to work with leasing companies such as Hyundai Capital to run a two-year pilot starting in Oct., targeting 2,000 Hyundai electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor will decide the battery lease fee later.
According to the EV industry, the Hyundai Motor Ioniq 5 Standard model sells for 47.4 million won, with the battery costing about 20 million won. If buyers receive both the 4 million won in government subsidies and up to 4 million won in local government subsidies under the battery subscription program, they will be able to purchase the body of this model for 19.4 million won.
In addition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) partially eased Autonomous Driving regulations. For the 200 autonomous-driving dedicated vehicles to be deployed in Gwangju, designated as an autonomous-driving pilot city on Apr. 4, applications for temporary operation permits will be allowed without self-certification procedures.
Self-certification is a process in which manufacturers themselves verify compliance with safety standards, and software-defined vehicles (SDV), which are strongly research and development oriented, have found it difficult to obtain self-certification, long seen as an obstacle to on-road pilots.