S.Korea's NongHyup advances into EV charging

South Korea's National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NongHyup), with over 9,000-plus offline bases nationwide, has entered the electric vehicle (EV) charging sector with plans to install at least 5,000 open charging stations by 2030 in the provinces, mainly in rural and farming areas.

Ninety percent of such stations in the country are concentrated in cities, usually at residential complexes and office buildings, making them difficult for outsiders to use. NongHyup's plan will thus improve this glaring weakness of domestic charging infrastructure.

An industry source on Sunday said NongHyup has designated the holding company NongHyup Agribusiness Group to run its EV charging station business. The plan is to use all affiliates such as NongHyup Hanaro Mart, farming and livestock cooperative units, NongHyup Bank and gas stations as charging sites.

Last month, the federation launched an intra-company contest for a new brand name and development of a charging station system computer. Next up is the designation of a charger manufacturer.

NongHyup late last month had 230,082 EV chargers nationwide, 44% of which were in the Seoul metropolitan region including the capital. Seventy percent are in downtown areas like major cities but just 7% in rural areas like counties, towns and townships.

NongHyup has 9,024 business sites nationwide -- 4,847 for savings and loans, 1,114 for banking, 2,149 for Hanaro Mart and 670 for pumping gas. If every agricultural cooperative unit, which is installed in every eight towns and townships, has a charging site, this will solve the shortage in the countryside.

"This solution can cover vulnerable charging areas difficult for other private operators to enter," a NongHyup source said.

Write to Nan-Sae Bin at binthere@hankyung.com