Kepco and Kakao Mobility team up on EV charging

Lee Jong-hwan, Kepco Vice President. second from left, and Alex Ryu, Kakao Mobility CEO, second from right, hold up a signed MOU at Kakao Mobiilty's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Friday. [KEPCO]

Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) and Kakao Mobility have signed an agreement to develop a platform that will allow electric vehicles to locate charging stations using Kakao’s navigation system.

According to the companies on Monday, ChargeLink, a system developed by Kepco, will be serviced through Kakao’s navigation system.

It will not only provide the location of nearby charging stations but also information on pricing and payment methods.

The two companies said they also plan to develop a service where EVs charged at parking lots operated by Kakao Mobility will get an automatic discount. This service will be expanded to unmanned parking lots.

Currently discounts are provided for EVs that are charged at public parking lots operated by local governments. However, the discount has been inconvenient.

The EV driver has to call the parking lot’s call center, which then, using surveillance cameras, has to verify if the EV is being charged.

“Kepco has the largest [power] infrastructure and roaming network and Kakao Mobility has a powerful mobility-as-a-service (Maas) platform and advanced data analytic technology, so a higher level of charging services will be provided to EV owners,” said Lee Jong-hwan, a Kepco vice president.

Kakao Mobility CEO Alex Ryu said the cooperation will be an important turning point that will accelerate the wide scale use of EVs while consolidating the EV aftermarket ecosystem, which is fragmented.

“This is not a one-time cooperation but a persisting strategic partnership where we will discuss measures from all angles in improving the EV owners’ charging experiences,” Ryu said.

Kakao Mobility operates the Kakao T navigation system, which as 28 million subscribers.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]