Oil companies push into Korean EV charging infrastructure

Hyundai Oilbank, GS Caltex and SK Innovation are supporting the development of EV infrastructure as sales of diesel cars are slowing and weakening its profitability, reports The Korea Herald.

In a saturated gas station market, the three largest Korean oil refiners - Hyundai Oilbank, GS Caltex and SK Innovation – are heating up competition with the building of EV charging related infrastructure.

Hyundai Oilbank recently announced the signature of an agreement with local EV charger producer JoongAng Control and charger operator Charzin to form a hybrid station consortium that will roll out fast chargers at 10 fuel stations and large retail stores in Seoul, Busan and Daegu by next year. Following the pilot project, the plan is to extend the business model to Hyundai Oilbank’s entire network - approximately 2,300 sites nationwide.

In May, GS Caltex already started the development of EV charging infrastructure at its seven fuel stations in Seoul in a partnernship with local firms LG Electronics and Signetev. The oil refiner is now introducing the same business model into Busan, Gwangju and Ulsan.

Prior in February, SK Energy, an oil refining unit of SK Innovation, also put in place a pilot business of EV chargers in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province. SK Energy has completed the installation of 11 more chargers at its gas stations nationwide so far. The company is set to deploy EV charging infrastructure onto its 3,570 gas stations across the country, and at around 3,500 post offices together with the state-run Korea Post.

According to Korea’s Environment Industry, the number of electric cars in Korea would grow from 56,000 last year to 3 million by 2030.