S.Korean EV charger maker lands $770 mn export deal in North America

South Korea's Moderntec, an electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions company, on Wednesday said it signed a three-year export contract with a partner in North America worth 1 trillion won ($770 million), or $300 million per year.

Concluded thanks to connection by the government-funded Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, the deal is the start of Moderntec's plans to take a major leap forward as a comprehensive electric charging platform.

With sales of 22 billion won last year, the company is expected to see a big jump in performance thanks to landing the largest export deal among domestic companies in the field.

Moderntec CEO Kim Sung-du said, "Moderntec's futuristic charging infrastructure has begun gaining global recognition."

Launched as a company for machine tools and design control in 2003, Moderntec started developing chargers from 2009, secured its own power distribution charging technology in 2011, and went on to acquire patents in Korea, the US, Europe, China and Japan.

The company's self-developed power distribution charger uses considerably less standby power than the conventional charging method of one charger per EV, slashing the cost of building a charging station in half.

By installing four dispensers on one power bank, a Moderntec station allows simultaneous charging of multiple vehicles while halving standby power volume. This technology has raised the company's share of the domestic market for electric bus charging to 80%.

A Moderntec source said, “Up to 50 dispensers can be installed on one power bank, making it far more economical than the conventional method.”

Write to Gyeongju Gang at qurasoha@hankyung.com