INTERVIEW From chargers to lifestyle hubs, Chaevi accelerates EV charging culture

Chaevi CEO Choi Young-hoon poses inside a Chaevi Stay in Seoul. Courtesy of Chaevi

By Ko Dong-hwan

• Published Apr 7, 2026 12:01 PM KST

Korean startup aims for overseas expansion with ultra-fast charging, comfort spaces

Chaevi is pivoting to superfast electric vehicle (EV) charging that can take a battery from zero to full in under an hour. But what is drawing people to the company’s 5,900 charging points nationwide — the largest network in Korea operated by a single provider — has less to do with mechanics and more with a simple, soul-satisfying experience that appeals beyond EV owners.

Chaevi Stay is the company’s brand for sleek EV charging stations featuring its third-generation SuperSonic charging service, with seven locations now operating across Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Each site includes a dedicated floor serving food and beverages for customers waiting while their cars charge. The dine-in menu features items such as gukbap, or rice with soup, and curry pork cutlet, all priced below typical market rates. Thanks to the quality and affordability, the venues are often bustling with diners who did not even arrive in EVs.

Chaevi Stay offers charging customers Chaevi points that carry monetary value and can be used to pay for food, charging and car washes at any station. Such offerings, according to Choi Young-hoon, CEO of Chaevi, represent a new “EV charging culture” designed to make the experience more enjoyable and less time-consuming.

The first Chaevi Stay opened in Seoul’s Seongsu neighborhood in 2022 — three years before Tesla launched a similar consumer-focused space, Diner, in Los Angeles.

“Unlike gas stations, which are often too unpleasant to offer more than a restroom or convenience store, Chaevi Stays are odorless, clean and welcoming, with award-winning design,” Choi said during a recent interview with The Korea Times at Chaevi Stay’s main branch in Seoul’s Seocho District.

As the country’s largest charging point operator (CPO), Chaevi is focusing on 200 to 400 kilowatt-hour (kWh) capacity to enable faster charging and higher turnover at each station. Choi said superfast charging will become inevitable and slow charging (11 kWh or less) obsolete, as more software-defined vehicles — including autonomous cars — require frequent power while running multiple software programs, much like smartphones.

“The government in 2022 required apartment complexes to allocate at least 2 percent of their parking spaces to EVs and slow chargers, to accommodate the growing number of clean vehicles. But a full charge can take 10 hours or more. Someone once told me he liked EVs because he could charge at home, but that’s a misguided perception,” Choi said.

“What will propel the EV market is superfast charging outside apartments in as many high-traffic locations as possible. Frequent charging, combined with various rest amenities, will become the new lifestyle norm for EV owners.”

Market share

For a CPO, market share is as important as technology: the larger the share, the greater the chance of reaching EV drivers on the road. Chaevi, a startup founded in 2016 with about 380 employees, has built enough customer trust to secure the country’s largest charging network.

Choi compared the market for a successful CPO to that of CU and GS25, Korea’s leading convenience store brands.

“Apparently convenience store brands have their own loyal consumers. The two brands are so popular that stores under less popular brands like 7-Eleven and Emart24 change their signboards to CU or GS25 and their sales spike immediately,” Choi said.

“That’s a strategy I will take in the future — buying out popular charging spots run by other companies to hoist our brand on them.”

Chaevi counts the government among its most valued customers.

Starting in 2016, the company won multiple bids from the Ministry of Environment — renamed the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment last October — to build and maintain public EV charging infrastructure nationwide. These projects steadily strengthened its portfolio, and the track record generated strong word-of-mouth among officials, leading to further recommendations for government projects seeking a private CPO.

According to Choi, being a startup rather than a large conglomerate also helped the company secure bids, as authorities were eager to foster a homegrown brand.

By 2021, Chaevi had secured control of 65 percent of public charging infrastructure on land owned by the ministry. Today, Chaevi-branded public chargers can be found at major expressway rest areas through a partnership with Korea Expressway Corp., as well as at public facilities run by 535 local city, county and township governments.

“More than 70 percent of our charging sites in Korea are on land owned by central and local governments. We win nearly two out of every three bids for new public charging projects. Authorities lease us the sites at affordable rates — less than 10,000 won ($6.64) per spot per year — for long terms of at least five years, extendable up to 30 years,” the CEO said.

“We’ve earned their trust because we are the only standalone CPO in Korea that both manufactures and operates charging equipment and infrastructure.”

Overseas expansion

Outside government-owned land, Chaevi plans to invest 80 billion won to install more than 1,000 new superfast charging points with plug-and-charge features each year over the next three years, to cement its market-leading position.

The expansion is also moving overseas, most notably to the United States. Since 2023, Chaevi has been supplying equipment to Sonic Automotive in North Carolina. In 2024, it began supplying CPOs backed by the state government of California, including GC Green. The company recently signed another supply deal with Red E, the fourth-largest superfast CPO in the U.S.

Its presence is also expanding within the U.S. auto industry. Stellantis’ mobility platform Free2Move and General Motors began testing SuperSonic in 2025 and this year, respectively, raising Choi’s expectations for a surge in exports. They would be the latest additions to a global client list that already includes Nio, Tesla and Porsche.

Choi said his next goal is to supply markets backed by U.S. federal subsidies. Chaevi has launched a manufacturing base in Riverside, California, to strengthen local production capacity.

Beyond the U.S., the company’s supply agreements now extend to Foreseeson Technology in Canada and Emirates Electrical Engineering in the United Arab Emirates. A joint venture with clean energy company Tavasya has opened doors to local business in India, and last year the company signed an exclusive supply deal with Kia.

“Our goal goes beyond being a simple charger supplier. We aim to be a strategic partner in building mobility ecosystems with global automakers,” Choi said.