SK Energy buys stake in subscription car wash service

South Korea is seeing growth in the variety of services for the rising number of eco-friendly electric vehicles (EVs) on the nation's roads.

Industry sources on Sunday said SK Energy, the petroleum subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., decided to invest in Autostay, a startup for automatic car washes under a subscription service.

Autostay subscribers can use growingly popular facilities such as a private space, or drying zone, to clean their car interiors themselves, offering the free use of a vacuum cleaner, mat washer and sink. This service, however, did not extend to EVs.

SK Energy, which is building an EV service platform, will develop EV charging and washing products for such cars through equity investment in Autostay to offer the nation's first service of its kind.

"This equity investment began with the awareness that benefits like car wash discounts are given to drivers of cars with internal combustion engines when refueling but not to EV users," a company source said. "We will continue looking for a variety of business lines for EV users."

SK Networks Co., which entered the EV charging sector this year, announced the launch of an emergency charging service that will eventually cover EVs for services like the dispatch of staff by insurance companies for emergency refueling when gas-powered cars run out of fuel. To this end, SpeedMate, Korea's top provider of automotive aftermarket services, will install EV charging equipment on 10 emergency dispatch vehicles on Jeju Island to recharge EVs so that they can drive for about 10 km after a 20-minute charge.

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com