글로벌 전기차 가격 경쟁과 국내 전기차 시설투자 지원 정책 방향: 테슬라와 중국 ‘전기차 중국몽’ 실현 사례를 중심으로

Abstract

The increasing market share of innovative electric vehicle products in major countries passed the tipping point in the second half of 2020, but looking at countries with successful companies in electric vehicle production, government support policies such as national subsidies and tax breaks is the core of the success. Moreover, electric vehicle manufacturers are entering an era of price competition for entry-level electric vehicles from 2022. Xi Jinping's 2014 electric vehicle China dream that more than 20% of new cars should be electric vehicles, has been realized in 2022. As the Chinese government stops subsidizing electric vehicles from 2023, a stream of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are beginning to go bankrupt. This is the era of high interest rates when Korea's legacy automaker(Hyundai Motor Group) spend large sums of money to build electric vehicle factories. The 2022 FRB base rate ceiling increased 17 times from 0.25% in January to 4.25% at the end of December. Tesla had already invested in electric vehicle production facilities using DOE's policy funds and the Federal Reserve Bank's low interest rate era, and is in a much more advantageous position in terms of cost competitiveness than companies that are building new electric vehicle factories from 2023 under the era of high interest rate. However, even Tesla, which built an electric car factory in the era of low interest rates, was unable to supply electric cars in the price range of $35,000 or less, to the market by 2023. Products produced in electric vehicle factories built in Korea must be able to maintain the price range for the popular electric vehicles, but when looking at the difference in financial costs at the time when Hyundai Motor Group's Kia and Hyundai Motors build electric vehicle factories at home and abroad, they are much higher than Tesla's. They are about 12 to 22 times higher. Considering Tesla's case and the string of bankruptcies of Chinese electric vehicle companies, the Korean government needs to provide bold tax cuts to minimize the fixed costs reflected in electric vehicle prices.