Land Area of 15,000 Pyeong
Annual Production Capacity of Over 10,000 Units
Production Started This Year
Full Production Target by Q2 2023
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seoyoon] SK Group's electric vehicle charger manufacturer and seller SK Signet is the first domestic charging infrastructure company to establish an electric vehicle charger production base in the United States.
On the 12th, SK Signet held a board meeting and decided to build a super-fast electric vehicle charger production plant in Texas, USA. After an initial investment of $15 million (approximately 21.4 billion KRW), additional investments will be considered depending on the increase in production volume.
Through the establishment of the U.S. factory, SK Signet has secured a foundation to proactively respond to the Biden administration's eco-friendly policies. The Biden administration is accelerating the expansion of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. In November last year, it enacted the 'National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI),' and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), implemented in August this year, also includes tax benefits for building electric vehicle charging stations.
The U.S. government has allocated approximately $5 billion (about 7.1 trillion KRW) in subsidies under the NEVI program by 2030. This large-scale project aims to install rapid or super-fast charging stations every 80 km along highways, building a total of 500,000 charging stations across the United States. To receive subsidies under the NEVI policy, production of chargers within the U.S. is mandatory. SK Signet has become one of the few companies to benefit from the NEVI subsidy policy by establishing a U.S. factory.
Comparison between the 600kW charging station required by the 'Special Act for Expanding National Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure' and the existing main product of SK Signet. Photo by SK Signet
Charging stations built under the NEVI policy must meet not only domestic production requirements but also technical standards demanded by the U.S. government. Currently, the NEVI standards require a power capacity of over 600kW per charging station and at least four dispensers capable of simultaneously charging each vehicle with over 150kW of power. This configuration is similar to SK Signet's existing main products, which allow flexible power distribution.
SK Signet has been primarily selling products composed of one 350kW power cabinet with either two 175kW dispensers or one 350kW dispenser, so it is expected to have a competitive edge in advanced technology development compared to competitors.
SK Signet's Texas factory will begin production this year and aims to operate the entire production line by the second quarter of 2023. The factory covers a land area of 49,600㎡ (15,000 pyeong) and a building area of 13,000㎡ (4,000 pyeong), with an additional expansion of 10,000㎡ (3,000 pyeong) possible on the same site. At the current scale, it can produce over 10,000 chargers annually in the U.S. alone, enabling SK Signet to have an annual production capacity of over 20,000 units including Korea and the U.S. With factory expansion, production capacity will exceed 30,000 units annually.
Shin Jeong-ho, CEO of SK Signet, said, "With the establishment of the U.S. factory, we will produce products that meet the NEVI standards ahead of competitors locally in the U.S., solidifying our leading position in the North American super-fast charging market."
Kim Hee-wook, Head of R&D (CTO) at SK Signet, stated, "We plan to transfer over 20 years of accumulated Korean manufacturing technology and experience to the U.S. factory and quickly establish a domestic parts supply chain in the U.S. to stabilize the factory at an early stage."
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