South Korea yesterday unveiled an ambitious plan to dramatically increase the production of environmentally friendly cars by 2020 as part of global efforts to cut carbon emissions and curb climate change.
Under the policy goals released by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the annual output of “green cars” like hybrid and electric-powered vehicles would increase sharply from 80,000 this year to 920,000 over the next five years.
Seoul eventually hopes such vehicles would account for 20 percent of all cars sold in the domestic market, compared with the current share of just 2 percent.
The issue of vehicle emissions has taken on a higher public profile recently in South Korea as a result of the scandal involving the Volkswagen Group and faked emissions standards.
Last month, the South Korean Ministry of Environment ordered the German automaker to recall 125,500 diesel vehicles sold in the nation and fined the company more than US$12 million.
The energy ministry said the new green car policy would help Seoul cut carbon emissions by 3.8 million tonnes over the next five years.
It vowed to invest 150 billion won (US$127.5 million) to help local carmakers like Hyundai Group improve the range of battery-powered cars and eventually drive down prices. Hundreds of new electric charging stations are to be built across the nation — with a target of 1,400 by 2020, compared with the current 400.
“Environmentally friendly cars ... will account for 50 percent of the global auto market by 2030,” the ministry said.
South Korea has been slow to adopt green car technology, with consumers turned off by high prices and a lack of charging stations. However, Hyundai —South Korea’s largest automaker — has been seeking to expand its presence in the global green car market that is currently dominated by Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp.
Hyundai, which forms the world’s fifth-largest carmaking group along with its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp, plans to triple its number of fuel-efficient car models to 22 over the next five years.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing
RSS