Korea's social dynamics towards power supply and air pollution caused by electric vehicle diffusion

Korea has the highest air pollution among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Since the recent environmental analysis (Kim et al., 2017) reported the feasibility of replacing taxis with electric vehicles (EVs) in metropolitan cities from a 'tank-to-wheel' emission perspective, various stakeholders have attempted to reduce air pollution by activating the EV market in Korea in accordance with international trends. Nevertheless, no holistic study has yet been published on the nationwide changes in air quality caused by EV diffusion from the perspective of 'well-to-wheel' emissions. This paper presents the results of estimating the stability of the electric power supply and fine particulate matter emissions in some cases, and the results of examining the structure of public discourse using big social media data. From the findings of our study, we made the following conclusions: (1) If the market share of EVs exceeds 12.5% before 2030 in Korea's domestic market, the supply and demand of stable energy will be threatened. (2) Under traditional energy mix conditions, the popularization of EVs may slightly reduce air pollution over metropolitan roads, but drastically increase air pollution near power plants that utilize fossil fuels. (3) Social media discussions show that the public is neither concerned about EVs being possible sources of pollutants, nor about potential instabilities in the energy market. (4) To obtain a socially acceptable energy mix, energy policy decision makers can select emission-free energy sources, such as nuclear power and renewable energy, depending on their priorities and based on power demand management to suppress excessive electrification.