Lotte, Hyundai Motor establish alliance for expansion of EV charging business

Lotte Group and Hyundai Motor Group have joined forces to expand their mobility business. The companies said on Thursday, Nov. 2, that through the partnership, they would establish an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Lotte and Hyundai Motor formed an alliance to further bolster the mobility industry as well. This particular goal for the tie-up was highlighted by the companies’ respective executive chairmen - Chung Euisun of Hyundai and Shin Dong Bin of the Lotte Group.

According to The Korea Times, the firms will also sign an agreement to create an "Electric Vehicle Super-Speed Charging Infrastructure Special Purpose Company" this month. It was mentioned that KB Asset Management, the investment arm of South Korea’s KB Financial Group, is also joining this project.

Along with KB Asset, Lotte and Hyundai Motor decided to set up a joint venture, and currently, they are making the needed adjustments to determine the final investment scale. An official of Lotte confirmed they are still in negotiation to set the total amount of investment, but business insiders predicted that it could reach about KRW300 billion or $211 million.

Lotte, Hyundai and KB Asset are planning to form a new mobility business model that will lease out super-fast electric vehicle chargers to charging companies. They believe many will avail of this service because renting will help operators reduce the initial costs.

The companies are looking to install around 5,000 ultra-fast chargers in major cities around South Korea by the year 2025. These will be built at major distribution facilities of the Lotte Group and Hyundai Motor’s service centers and sales offices across the country.

Through the special purpose corporation (SPC) of the three companies, they will lease these EV chargers. The EV charger manufacturer, Joongang Control, will also be participating in this venture as a supplier. The company is able to join the project since it was already acquired by the Lotte Group.

Finally, Business Korea reported that experts opined that this partnership between Lotte Group and Hyundai Motor would serve as a great motivation for the widening of local charging business infrastructure. It was noted by the nation’s Ministry of Environment that most of the EV charging stations in Korea only offer slow charging services.

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