SK, BlackRock team to bet on EV charging station maker

 

SK Inc., the holding company of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, has committed to invest $5 million in US electric vehicle charging stations manufacturer FreeWire Technologies, investment banking sources said on Friday. The investment will be made via a $3 million new mobility fund, which SK and China’s leading automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. jointly created in 2021 for future mobility.  

SK’s investment is part of FreeWire’s Series D Funding, which has raised $125 million from BlackRock Financial Management Inc., bp ventures and other global investors. FreeWire will use the capital to boost commercial deployments of its battery-integrated ultrafast EV charging technology and expand manufacturing capacity.

It offers ultrafast charging to multiple EVs simultaneously at speeds of up to 100 miles in 10 minutes, as well as reduces charger installation costs by 20% and operating costs by 70%, the Oakland, California-based tech company said.

SK has been accelerating investments in the future mobility market recently. It has been aggressively injecting capital in EV materials manufacturers, charging solutions providers and finished EV car companies over the past year.    

On April 27, SK announced it has injected 120 billion won ($95.3 million) to acquire a 95.8% stake in Yes Powertechnix Co., the sole silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor manufacturer in Korea. SK bought a 33.6% stake in Yes Powertechnix for 26.8 billion won in January 2021 and this time secured the management rights.

Regarded as the next-generation devices, SiC semiconductors withstand about 10 times the voltage of existing semiconductors and high heat in the hundreds of degrees at just 10% the thickness of current silicon semiconductors, as well as raise EVs' energy efficiency by 7%. By 2025, SiC semiconductors are expected to make up 60% of the global power semiconductor market in line with the fast-growing EV industry.

In April 2021, the Korean holding company purchased a 55.5% stake in Signet EV, Korea’s industrial charger manufacturer and EV charging solutions provider, for 293 billion won. Founded in 2016, Signet EV is the market leader in the super-fast EV charger segment in the US, with more than a 50% share.

Its 350 kW charger had previously received the world’s first accreditation in 2018 from US safety certification company UL LLC. 

SK also invested around $60 million in Polestar, a Swedish EV manufacturer under Volvo cars, via the new mobility fund last year. The Swedish EV maker launched Polestar 2 last year in Europe and China, an EV model that automatically disconnects its battery pack’s high voltage system from the rest of the car in a collision to reduce damage to the circuitry. SK will embed SK Telecom’s navigation T Map in Polestar 2, set to be released in Korea this year, and provide the customers with charging services in a bid to lead the local premium EV market.

"SK has been preemptively investing in various sectors of the EV market to build a strong value chain and take the lead in the global EV industry. The company will continue its investment activities in the related sectors for a while," an IB source said.

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim at why29@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.