LGU+ and Kakao Mobility join forces on EV charger business

LGU+ and Kakao Mobility have agreed to a joint venture to enter the electric vehicle (EV) charger market. Each company has invested 25 billion won ($19 million) and a total of 20 million and 1 shares were issued for the new company. LGU+ and...

LGU+ CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik, left, and Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Geung-seon, pose for a photo after signing a joint venture contract to enter the electric vehicle charger business at Kakao Mobility's office in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, on Friday. [LGU+]

LGU+ and Kakao Mobility have agreed to a joint venture to enter the electric vehicle (EV) charger market.

Each company has invested 25 billion won ($19 million) and a total of 20 million and 1 shares were issued for the new company. LGU+ and Kakao Mobility will each acquire approximately a 50 percent stake, with LGU+ getting 10 million and 1 shares while Kakao Mobility acquires 10 million shares.

The two companies will apply for joint venture evaluation to the Fair Trade Commission in July.

Specifics such as a brand name or business and recruitment strategies will be announced at a later date.

The two companies want to become a vanguard of the EV charging market, which does not yet have a domestic market leader.

EV users are significantly increasing. In 2022, 164,000 new vehicles were listed to take the total number of EVs to 390,000, according to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

By 2030, the total number of EVs is anticipated to be over 4.2 million.

The Ministry of Environment announced plans to distribute over 1.23 million EV chargers domestically by 2030, but LGU+ and Kakao Mobility are focused on the growth rate of the EV charging infrastructure which is behind the EV market, the telecom carrier said in a statement on Monday.

The joint venture follows the ministry's announcement to focus on demand near apartment complexes to ultimately develop the company into a smart energy platform, said LGU+ CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik in a statement.

“We hope to solve various problems related to previous EV charging systems with our platform technology,” said Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Geung-seon. “In the long-term, we hope to discover new business models based on our accumulated user data and become a business leader as we transit to an era of EVs.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]