Electric Vehicle Charging Fees Raised After One Month... LGU+ VoltUp Faces Early Challenges

"Facility Investment and Workforce Expansion... Unavoidable Price Increase"
Partnered Elbe TV Company Also Faces Business Slump

‘LG Uplus Voltup,’ established by LG Uplus for the electric vehicle charging business, is facing difficulties right from the start. Less than a month after officially launching the business, it raised charging fees, and the elevator TV operator, which was intended to be used as a sales network, is also encountering challenges.

According to industry sources on the 25th, Voltup will implement a charging fee increase starting next month. For slow charging, the fee will rise from 240 KRW to 270 KRW per kWh, and for fast charging, from 240 KRW to 324 KRW.

Voltup stated, "We have maintained charging fees despite the Korea Electric Power Corporation’s electricity rate hikes to minimize customer burden, but we have been forced to raise fees to provide better services through facility investments and expansion of maintenance personnel."

Voltup is a joint venture between LG Uplus and Kakao Mobility, officially launched on the 5th of this month. Both companies invested 25 billion KRW each, raising a total capital of 50 billion KRW. LG Uplus holds one more share than Kakao Mobility, giving it control over the company’s management. CEO Hyun Jun-yong of Voltup is also from LG Uplus. Voltup operates about 10,000 chargers across approximately 2,000 charging stations.

Focus Media Korea, a specialized elevator TV operator that Voltup intended to utilize to expand its charging infrastructure, is facing business difficulties. Focus Media Korea is a Chinese company with its parent company, Funzhong Media, holding a 50.4% stake. It was established after acquiring LG Uplus’s media board business in 2017, and LG Uplus currently holds a 9% stake.

However, due to the recent economic downturn and contraction in the advertising industry, the company’s growth has slowed. According to Focus Media Korea’s audit report released last month, operating profit turned into a loss of 6.6 billion KRW last year from a profit of 15 billion KRW in 2022. The net loss for last year reached 15.9 billion KRW. The company also paid LG Uplus 4 billion KRW in telecommunications fees in 2022.

LG Uplus was excluded from being a company exerting significant influence over Focus Media Korea according to the shareholder agreement in September 2022. However, in July last year, LG Uplus signed an MOU with Focus Media Korea and announced plans to install Voltup’s electric vehicle chargers primarily in apartment complexes and office buildings equipped with Focus Media’s elevator TVs.

Focus Media Korea attempted to list on the KOSDAQ market a year ago but voluntarily withdrew. According to the Korea Exchange, since 2007, 27 Chinese companies have been listed on the Korean stock market, of which 14 were delisted due to false or incomplete disclosures and accounting fraud.