SK E&S buys EverCharge to enter US EV charging market

South Korea’s SK E&S Co. acquired US electric vehicle charging solution provider EverCharge Inc. to start the business in the world’s third-largest EV market.

SK E&S on Thursday said it was the first South Korean company to take over the management right of a US EV charging company.

The natural gas business unit of SK Group said the company spent a part of $400 million that was injected into its US subsidiary SK E&S Americas earlier this month for the acquisition. SK E&S plans to invest the rest in other energy solution sectors.

“The entry into the US EV charging market is a starting point pf the company’s transformation into a carbon neutral energy optimizer that we have declared,” said SK E&S Vice Chairman and CEO Yu Jeong-joon in a statement.

SK Group, whose energy portfolio ranges from refineries, natural gas and batteries to renewable energy, has been actively pursuing mergers and acquisitions in the US to expand its eco-friendly energy business portfolio. In September last year, SK E&S Co acquired Key Capture Energy LLC (KCE), a US operator of energy storage projects.

EverCharge, founded in 2013 in California, manufactures EV chargers and provides solutions for the operations of charging stations. It operates about 4,600 EV chargers in North America with a focus on units installed at parking lots in large buildings.

Write to Jeong Min Nam at peux@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.