LGU+ and Kakao Mobility Join Forces in Electric Vehicle Charging Business... Establish Joint Venture

LG Uplus and Kakao Mobility are making a joint investment in the electric vehicle charging business.

The two companies announced on the 3rd that they have signed a joint venture agreement for the electric vehicle charging business and will officially enter the electric vehicle charging market.

The two companies plan to apply for a corporate merger review with the Fair Trade Commission for the establishment of the joint venture corporation within this month. Afterwards, they will complete the company establishment procedures within the year by setting the company name, brand name, business strategy and direction, and securing personnel. LG Uplus will hold 50% plus one share, and Kakao Mobility will hold 50% of the shares.

In recent years, due to government support policies and industrial technology development aimed at expanding electric vehicle adoption, the number of electric vehicle users has been rapidly increasing. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 164,000 new electric vehicles were registered in 2022 alone, reaching a total of 390,000, and it is expected to surpass 4.2 million by the end of 2030.

Accordingly, the electric vehicle charging market is emerging as a 'blue ocean' and growing rapidly. The Ministry of Environment has set a goal to distribute more than 1.23 million chargers by 2030. In addition, major conglomerates have designated electric vehicle charging as a future growth engine, aggressively entering the market by acquiring specialized charging companies or implementing their own services.

On the other hand, the expansion speed of electric vehicle charging infrastructure is not keeping pace with the growth of the electric vehicle market. Insufficient charger operation and after-service management, as well as efficiency issues of existing charging stations due to fragmented charging infrastructure, have been pointed out as major inconveniences for users.

LG Uplus and Kakao Mobility plan to combine their capabilities with the goal of providing a ‘customer experience where charging is convenient whenever desired’ and ‘new values such as safety and personalization that did not exist before.’ They aim to expand the insufficient electric vehicle charging infrastructure and take the lead in achieving the government’s 2050 carbon neutrality (net-zero) goal.

Previously, the two companies have strengthened their human and technical capabilities with the goal of expanding the electric vehicle charging business. LG Uplus launched the electric vehicle charging service 'VoltUp' earlier this year and acquired LG HelloVision’s electric vehicle charging service 'HelloPlugIn.'

Kakao Mobility has expanded accessibility and convenience by enhancing smart features such as easy payment, charger location search, real-time notifications of charger usage history, and charger status display since introducing the electric vehicle charging service on the Kakao Navi app in 2021.

Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus, said, "We will focus on the multi-family housing market, which is considered the most urgent area for expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure, to quickly secure service coverage and increase customer loyalty through customer experience innovation." He added, "Through this, we will lead the charging service ecosystem and operation platform and evolve it into a 'smart energy platform' that optimizes supply and demand in the future V2G and V2X markets."

Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, also stated, "We will discover new business models based on accumulated user data and evolve into a leading business operator in the upcoming electric vehicle transition era."