"Just Plug In for Payment" Kakao Mobility and Seoul City Launch Electric Vehicle Automatic Charging Service

Kakao Mobility announced on the 26th that it will introduce the electric vehicle automatic charging service 'Auto Charging' to the Kakao Navi app in collaboration with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Kakao Mobility Auto Charging Service [Image provided by Kakao Mobility]

Auto Charging is a service where the charging connector is simply plugged into the charging port, and the vehicle information is recognized by the charger to automatically proceed with 'authentication-charging-payment.' Until now, electric vehicle drivers had to go through cumbersome authentication and payment procedures, such as operating the charger screen and tagging various membership or credit cards to charge their vehicles.

To use the Auto Charging service on the Kakao Navi app, users need to ▲connect the charging connector to the vehicle ▲scan the QR code attached to the charger with their phone camera ▲and complete a one-time registration process. ▲After that, users can enjoy a one-stop service from charging to payment just by connecting the connector without any additional authentication or charger operation.

Auto Charging can be registered and used at electric vehicle charging devices supported by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Energy Corporation. Kakao Mobility plans to add a charging station search function that provides the Auto Charging service to the Kakao Navi app in the future.

Additionally, an automatic parking fee discount function linked with Kakao T Charging Pass will be introduced at Seoul city-operated parking lots. Currently, parking fees are discounted within one hour when charging electric vehicles at public parking lots, but users had to submit separate charging proof documents upon exit, causing inconvenience.

Kim Jaehyun, Executive Director of the Kakao Mobility Car Owner Business Division, said, "We provide an appropriate automatic authentication service considering the conditions of charging stations by equipping both camera-based and vehicle unique information identification methods." He added, "We plan to expand the target sites so that more electric vehicle owners can use the Kakao T charging service in the future."