About 16-hundred people who bought electric vehicles last year have not received promised grants to install a charger at their homes. Government officials say all that funding has been used up. Mike Balfour reports.
Mr. (윤) Yoon purchased an electric vehicle in September.

However, he has yet to get a charger.

[slug]
Text message surprise: ‘No grant for your EV charger.’

He applied for a charger subsidy. Then he received a text message a few days ago informing that the subsidy is no longer available to him.

Mr. Yoon was taken aback as he had already waited for over a month for a site inspection since his new car was delivered.

INTERVIEW
Mr. Yoon / EV owner
I applied for the charger subsidy. One and a half months later, I got a text message saying the funding had been exhausted. This really came out of the blue.
<인터뷰 : 윤 씨>
"자가 충전기 설치를 위해 신청서를 냈죠. 한달 반 만에 예산이 소진돼 충전기를 설치해 줄 수 없다는 문자메시지를 받았어요. 얼마나 당황했는지 몰라요."

[slug]
‘No clear explanation from province’

He called the province several times and asked for an explanation. But the province hasn't given clear answers.

He needs to hop here and there to find a public charger. Every day is a hassle.

INTERVIEW
Mr. Yoon / EV owner
I live in a rural area without many chargers. The ones we have are far from my house. It takes 6 hours for a full charge. That’s too long to wait in my car.
<인터뷰 : 윤 씨>
"저는 읍지역에 사는데 전기차 충전기가 많지 않습니다. 있더라도 집과 굉장히 멀리 떨어져 있습니다. 한 번 충전하려면 6시간 기다려야 하는데 그 시간을 어떻게 기다릴 것이며..."


About 7,000 islanders purchased EVs last year.

8.5 billion won was earmarked for subsidizing chargers to 5,600 EV purchasers in 2018.

This means that more than 1,000 purchasers would be unable to get the subsidy due to the budget shortfall.


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Province ‘has asked Seoul for more funding’

The province says the subsidy is provided by the Ministry of Environment and therefore there is nothing that the provincial office can do.

It added it has asked for additional funds for those who haven’t received the subsidy.

Recording
Provincial representative
We asked the Ministry of Environment for additional funding for charger subsidies in 2019 for people who bought their EVs after November 14 and, unfairly, couldn’t get the grants in 2018.
<싱크 : 제주도 관계자>
"전기차 충전기를 예산 소진 때문에 받지 못한 사람은 형평성에 어긋나니까 2019년 충전기 보급을 할 때 올해 11월 14일 이후에 전기차 구매한 사람도 추후에 설치될 수 있도록 (환경부에) 건의는 했습니다."

Jejudo claims to be a EV leading province and it is enthusiastic about supplying EVs.

[Reporter] Mike Balfour
[Camera] Park Byeong-joon

Meanwhile, the slow pace of securing a budget for EV chargers is an everyday inconvenience to some islanders.

Mike Balfour, KCTV