Chaevi wins bid to expand EV fast-charging network across Korea

A Chaevi electric vehicle charger is installed at a highway rest stop in Korea. Courtesy of Chaevi

Chaevi, Korea’s largest operator of fast-charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs), has been selected as the preferred bidder for a government project to expand charging stations at highway rest stops nationwide.

The company said Wednesday it will pursue the installation of 131 chargers at 29 highway rest stops under the Korea Expressway Corp.’s 2026 EV charging station construction project.

The planned network will include 118 200-kilowatt (kW) chargers and 13 multichargers across major highway corridors in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon, North Chungcheong, Daejeon and South Chungcheong, North Jeolla, Gwangju and South Jeolla, Daegu and North Gyeongsang, and Busan and South Gyeongsang.

The expansion will include 82 chargers equipped with North American Charging Standard (NACS), connectors, giving Tesla drivers more opportunities to charge without a CCS1 adapter.

Combined with Chaevi’s 2025 and 2026 projects, the company said 167 chargers with NACS connectors will be installed at highway rest stops, accounting for about 62 percent of its chargers under the two projects.

The NACS-equipped 200-kW chargers can deliver charging currents of up to 250 amps, which Chaevi said can help Tesla vehicles make fuller use of their supported charging performance.

Chaevi said usage data from 109 charging spaces at 23 locations it began operating under the 2025 project showed an average of about 2.5 times as many daily charging sessions per space as conventional charging stations in July.

The company also offers its Plug & Charge service, which automatically handles vehicle identification, charging and payment after a driver connects the charger.

Chaevi said the company would continue expanding high-speed charging infrastructure while responding to changes in charging standards.

Chaevi added it operates and manages about 10,000 fast-charging spaces in Korea and is developing technologies including megawatt charging systems, artificial intelligence-based charging services and autonomous charging.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.