The number of environmentally-friendly cars in South Korea jumped by more than 254,000 units in the first half of this year while that of internal combustion engine vehicles fell by 872 units, data showed Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, the total number of eco-friendly cars, including hybrid, hydrogen, and electric vehicles, registered in the country as of the end of June stood at 11,844,233 units, up 254,248 units from the end of December last year.

The number of internal combustion engine vehicles, on the other hand, fell by 872 units to 23,731,204 units from 23,732,076 units during the same period.

The number of gasoline vehicles increased by 163,291 units but that of diesel and liquefied petroleum gas vehicles dropped by 126,921 units and 37,242 units, respectively.

Green vehicles are expanding in number.

Eco-friendly vehicles accounted for 7.2 percent of the entire registered vehicles at the end of June, up from 2 percent in 2018. The figure also rose from 2.5 percent in 2019, 3.4 percent in 2020, 4.7 percent in 2021, and 6.2 percent in 2022.

Hybrid cars were the most popular with 1,347,000 units, followed by electric vehicles at 465,000 units, and hydrogen vehicles at 32,000 units.

The most registered EV model in the first half of this year was the Hyundai Motor Co.’s Porter II Electric, data showed, followed by Kia’s EV6 with 10,653 units, Kia’s Bongo III EV with 10,025 units, Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ 5 with 9,322 units, and IONIQ 6 with 6,750 units.

Hyundai Motor had the highest cumulative number of EV registrations at 203,973 units, followed by Kia at 127,815, Tesla Inc. at 50,962, General Motors Co. at 14,709, and BMW at 19,954.

By Pulse

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