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Ministry of Environment has temporarily postponed the announcement of the electric vehicle subsidy reform scheduled for today (12th).

This is because a conflict arose as Chinese electric vehicle companies protested over the issue of subsidy cuts for Chinese batteries.



Jang Se-man is an environmental reporter. 



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Since last month, the Ministry of Environment has held two briefings on the subsidy reorganization plan for electric vehicle companies.



First of all, the controversy was whether to secure a direct service center.



The number of Tesla's insufficient service centers has been raised on the chopping block, and considering consumer convenience, it has been coordinated so that subsidies can be received even if the service network is established through a partner company rather than directly operated.



[Electric vehicle company employee: No other country has a direct overseas maintenance center when exporting to the United States or anywhere else.

(Direct service center, etc.) The follow-up management part has been organized without controversy.]



But this time, Chinese electric bus companies protested.



Chinese electric buses have been subsidized by 140 million won per unit, lowering the bus selling price to less than 100 million won, and thanks to this, they have increased their share of the domestic market by more than 40%.



The Ministry of Environment has decided to cut subsidies if batteries with low energy density are used, but most Chinese electric car makers use iron phosphate batteries with low energy density.



Subsidies can be cut in half compared to domestic batteries that use ternary batteries with high energy density.



[Kwon Yong-joo/Adjunct Professor, Department of Automotive Transportation, Kookmin University: Differentiating subsidies based on the energy density of electric vehicle batteries hides the intention to foster the country's battery industry.]



A large Chinese electric car company is expected to be disadvantaged in electric car subsidies It is known that a letter of protest was sent through the embassy about the reorganization plan.



It is pointed out that it is inappropriate for China, which has been aggressively fostering by subsidizing only domestic batteries in China, to interfere with other countries' policies.



(Video coverage: Lee Sang-hak, video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)