Kepco Vice President Lee Jong-hwan (left) and SK Energy P&M CIC Chief Executive Officer Oh Jong-hoon pose during an inking ceremony on Thursday. (SK Energy)
SK Energy and Korea Electric Power Corp. agreed to jointly develop automotive services to promote the use of electric vehicles in the country, SK said Friday.
SK Energy, South Korea’s leading oil refinery and gas station operator, said it is partnering with the state-run electricity provider Kepco, which operates the country’s largest EV charging infrastructure business, to expand its EV service business.
SK Energy P&M CIC Chief Executive Officer Oh Jong-hoon and Kepco Vice President Lee Jong-hwan attended the signing ceremony held at SK Group headquarters in Jongno, Seoul, the company said.
Under the agreement, the two companies said they will work together to come up with different charging solutions and services to offer more convenience to EV users.
One such plan includes developing a charging service for commercial and corporate vehicles to support the K-EV100 initiative. Under the strategy, the government and companies agreed to replace all internal combustion vehicles owned or leased by corporates with eco-friendly vehicles by the year 2030.
SK Energy is currently developing an online integrated service platform, Total Car Life Platform, which offers various services such as buying cars, charging, car care and used-car purchasing.
It plans to link its business with Kepco’s ChargeLink, a roaming service for electric vehicle charging service operators. EV drivers on the ChargeLink platform can use all charging stations in the alliance. ChargeLink’s users and Kepco’s partner firms would also then have access to Car Life services, the company said.
“The two companies will contribute to expanding usage of electric vehicles in the country by creating a more convenient and economic environment for customers to drive EVs, by developing differentiated services and solutions,” said Oh from SK Energy.
By Jo He-rim (
herim@heraldcorp.com)