[Courtesy of Hyundai Motor]
As of January 2023, there were 205,205 EV chargers across South Korea with some 390,000 registered EVs. Currently, more than 90 percent of installed chargers are slow chargers that take about eight hours to fully charge an ordinary EV. The chargers are made by some dozen different makers and have different charging rates, durability, and communication methods.
Hyundai unveiled E-pit, an ultra-fast charging station for EVs, in 2021 to accelerate the adoption of clean energy vehicles. E-pits are mainly installed in multiple highway service areas and crowded places in Seoul and its surrounding cities. However, there are less than 30 E-Pit stations and it is not enough to provide convenient charging services for EV drivers in the country.
Hyundai and the Korea Testing Certification Institute (KTC) held an opening ceremony at KTC's headquarters in Gunpo south of Seoul on June 19 and said that the EV charging infrastructure certification center will be operational as early as the end of 2023. The center will focus on certifying EV charging products and services to improve the quality of the EV charging ecosystem. Chargers and charging stations certified by the center would provide safe and convenient services for EV drivers.
The certification center will also help business operators to apply for foreign court-approved certification services so that they can save money and time when they try to receive approval from foreign state bodies.
"Hyundai Motor Group will continue to nurture the quality of EV charging services by acquiring more infrastructure and help customers conveniently and effortlessly gain access to charging environments regardless of time and space," Kim Heung-soo, Hyundai Motor's global strategy office head, said in a statement on June 19.
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