Sejong, February 2 - The Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Wha-jin) will hold three briefing sessions on subsidy programs for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for local governments from January 31 to February 7. The briefing session is to supply hydrogen-powered vehicles more vigorously, together with local governments. In 2023, 16,920 hydrogen-powered vehicles (16,000 passenger cars, 700 buses, and 220 cargo and garbage trucks) will receive subsidies. In particular, the number of commercial hydrogen-powered vehicles, including buses, cargo, and garbage trucks, eligible for subsidy doubled from 340 last year to 920 this year. 

The Ministry of Environment will pursue its policy of supplying hydrogen-powered vehicles by actively identifying the demand of local governments for those vehicles. Several local governments already began accepting applications for hydrogen vehicle subsidies from January 16 on the 'integrated website for zero-emission vehicles (ev.or.kr).' Individuals or corporations that wish to purchase hydrogen vehicles can receive subsidies up to KRW 22.5 million (based on passenger cars) from the local government of their area of residence or work. 

During the regional briefing session, the Ministry of Environment will share the best practices for supplying hydrogen vehicles in 2022. It will also discuss customized supply methods considering regional supply conditions, such as the status of hydrogen fueling stations. In particular, there will be three briefing sessions, once for each region. The Ministry of Environment expects to communicate with each local government more effectively than during the previous sessions held for all local governments.

The Ministry of Environment supplied 10,256 hydrogen vehicles in 2022, the most in a single year since launching the subsidy programs for hydrogen vehicles. As a result, the cumulative supply of hydrogen vehicles reached 29,733 units. The supply of hydrogen vehicles has continued to increase every year, thanks to policies such as increasing subsidies for hydrogen vehicles and building more hydrogen fueling stations.  

Park Yeon-jae, Director-General of the Air Quality Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Environment, said, "Our 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is not easy to achieve without the supply of hydrogen vehicles, one type of zero-emission vehicles, so we will continuously pursue the policies to supply them."  Director-General Park added, "The amount of government support has increased for the full-scale supply of commercial hydrogen vehicles starting this year. We plan on taking this opportunity to discover demand for commercial hydrogen vehicles actively and to supply these vehicles in the private and public sectors with local governments."

Contact: Kim Yoo-ran, Deputy Director

Air Quality Future Strategy Division / +82-(0)44-201-6705

Foreign Media Contact: Chun Minjo(Rachel)

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr