SK Group ups stake in EverCharge to 91.37% to boost presence in North America

EverCharge‘s commercial EV charging stations at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, U.S. [Photo provided by SK E&S]

South Korea’s SK Group has spent more than 300 billion won ($227.8 million) so far to secure more than 90 percent stake in EverCharge Inc., a North American electric vehicle (EV) charging company, a move that will help the second-largest conglomerate target the U.S. EV charging market in time for increased regional supply.

According to multiple industry sources on Monday, SK Group has increased its stake in EverCharge to 91.37 percent via PassKey Inc., a U.S. investment entity of SK E&S Co. The group has spent a total 338.1 billion won for the stake, including a purchase made last year.

PassKey - fully owned by SK E&S - is responsible for overall investments in new renewable energy in North America. Vice Chairman Yu Jeong-joon resigned from the position of chief executive officer at PassKey to focus on his responsibility as the head of U.S. Government and Corporate Affairs while SK on Co. Chief Administrative Officer Choi Young-chan became PassKey’s CEO. SK on Executive Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won is Passkey’s chief investment officer, and Choi In-geun, eldest son of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, also moved to Passkey from SK E&S last year.

EverCharge is an American EV charging company founded in California, U.S. in 2013. The company is engaged in comprehensive EV charging business from production of EV chargers to installation and operation of charging stations. It is building a 2,800 square-meter factory in Hayward, California, to aggressively expand charger production. It currently has products such as “EV02,” a simple slow charger for apartment parking lots, “CABINTET,” a 240-kilowatt (kW) fast charger, and “COVE,” which can be used both indoors and outdoors.

“EverCharge is setting up charging infrastructure in collaboration with U.S. car rental provider Avis Rent A Car System Inc.,” said an unnamed industry official. EverCharge had installed commercial EV charging stations at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, U.S. early this year.

SK Signet factory in U.S. [Photo provided by SK Signet]

EV manufacturer SK Signet is another key pillar of SK Group’s EV charging business in North America. SK Group acquired Signet EV Inc., a company specializing in ultra-fast chargers, in 2021 and changed its name to SK Signet last year. SK Signet produces 350kW ultra-fast chargers and is building a factory with an annual production capacity of 10,000 units in Texas, U.S.

“A 350kW charger allows you to fully charge an EV in 20 minutes,” said an unnamed official from SK Signet. “We will launch full-fledged production of chargers in the U.S. from June to target the growing market.”

SK Group’s aggressive advances into the North American EV market is largely attributable to the U.S. government’s policy to reinforce EV supply.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced rules that require EVs to account for 67 percent of new cars sold in the U.S. by 2032 to regulate vehicle pollution.

The EV charging market is also expected to grow sharply.

According to industry sources, there are about 126,500 slow, level-two chargers and 20,000 fast, level-three chargers that fully charge batteries in 15-20 minutes in the U.S. Sources expect demand for U.S. EV slow chargers will rise to 2.13 million units and fast chargers to 172,000 units by 2030.

The U.S. government has announced plans to increase the number of EV charging stations to 500,000 by 2030 based on a $7.5 billion investment.