Demand for personal mobility vehicles - not only electric scooters and motorcycles but also compact electric cars - are growing rapidly in South Korea, where delivery service is part of everyday life.

According to Renault Samsung Motors Co. on Monday, pre-orders of its ultra-small electric vehicle Twizy have reached more than 1,200 units, already exceeding its annual sales target of 1,000 units and accounting for 47 percent of its global sales volume of 2,514 units last year. The compact electric car is scheduled to hit the Korean market next month.

Encouraged by the better-than-expected reception, the Korean unit of French carmaker Renault S.A. is in talks with its French parent company to up the electric car’s import to the Korean market to 1,500 units this year. Renault Samsung’s CEO Park Dong-hoon is also considering domestic production of the car that is wholly manufactured in Spain.

Twizy, released in 2012, is a one- or two-seater electric vehicle that can be charged at home using a regular 220V outlet and run with a maximum speed of 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) per hour. The car is priced at around 15 million won ($13,415) in Korea, but the price tag can fall below 6 million won with the government subsidies.

Demand for one or two-wheeled electric standing scooter is also surging in the country. According to iWheel, a domestic importer of vehicles of China-based Ninebot Inc., sales of electric standing scooters in Korea reached 10,790 units last year, up 47 percent from a year ago. The company’s entire sales including electric kickboards and motorcycles in the country jumped 68 percent to 12,960 units over the same period. The most popular product is an electric standing scooter Ninebot Mini Pro 320 that can run up to 30 kilometers on a single charge and is priced at 749,000 won.

The exploding demand for personal transportation devices in Korea is partly attributed to the rising number of single-person households. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of single or two-person households amounted to 819 as of 2015, accounting for 53.3 percent. Singles mostly have food and shopping ordered by phones and delivered to homes. Need for safe and fast delivery service has stoked up interest in one-person electricity vehicles.

Environmental awareness has also helped to boost the demand. Fuji Research Institute forecasts that the global market for personal mobility devices would grow to about 26 trillion won by 2030 from about 400 billion won as of 2015.

By Park Chang-young

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]