Estrafic Secures 10-Year Operation Rights for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations at Highway Rest Areas
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Estrafic announced on the 28th that it has been selected as the preferred negotiation partner in the private bidding for electric vehicle chargers on highways conducted by Korea Expressway Corporation.
After finalizing the agreement, the company plans to install 186 chargers at 59 major highway rest areas by March next year and provide charging convenience services for electric vehicle drivers for the next 10 years. The company participated in this bidding under its own electric vehicle charging brand, SS Charger. Starting in 2025, the Ministry of Environment plans to transfer its chargers to the private sector, and being selected in this bidding is said to offer a relative advantage, making the competition intense.
The company received high scores by presenting a reasonable charging station construction plan and a differentiated charging station operation method that combines technology-based charging and convenience solutions. It applied Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology to the charging system, enabling member authentication for charging linked with highway Hi-Pass cards. There are also features to check charging progress or make simple reservations using a dedicated application and rest area facilities.
Vehicle number authentication and simple automatic payment services have been prepared, so there is no need to carry a physical card. According to the company, when the number of electric vehicles reaches 2.64 million, the cost of issuing and managing physical cards will be about 100 billion KRW, which can be saved.
They also proposed a solution called AIOS (AI for Optimization charging Service), for which a patent application has been completed. It was devised to reduce the inconvenience of increased charging waiting times caused by information asymmetry between electric vehicle drivers and charging stations. At charging stations to be built in the future, it will also be possible to pay unpaid highway toll fees during charging.
The company stated that it obtained approval at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting related to the physical division of the electric vehicle charging business earlier this month. The procedure to establish a new corporation is scheduled to be completed next month. Moon Chan-jong, CEO of Estrafic, said, "We are focusing on expanding infrastructure centered on fast chargers and developing technology with customer convenience as the top priority so that electric vehicle users do not experience inconvenience due to charging issues."
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