tesla south korea

South Korea offers a very generous electric vehicle incentive of up to 22 million won ($18,328), but the program has a ridiculous rule that the electric car has to be able to fully charge in under 10 hours using a standard outlet. We are talking about a regular 220-volt outlet so of course, it unfairly disqualifies electric vehicles with larger battery packs and longer range, which on the market today primarily consists of Tesla’s vehicles.

But now that Tesla is entering the South Korean market, the government is reportedly looking into removing the requirement in order to accelerate electric vehicle adoption and address its worsening smog problem. 
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Late last year, we reported on comments made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel while they were in Korea for the Energy Korea Forum 2015. They said Tesla is “committed” to the South Korean market and that he sees a “great potential” there, but they didn’t want to commit to a timeline for an expansion in the country just yet.

Now it looks like the automaker is planning to enter the Korean market as soon as “early 2017” based on talks held with TK, South Korea’s second-biggest telecom company, to provide Tesla’s fleet with telematic services.
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