Korean hypermarket giant E-Mart plans to install electric car charging stations at all of its outlets nationwide by 2021.
The company initiated formal service of nine electric car charging stations in four regions (Sokcho, Gangneung, Geomdan, and Gumi) this week.
The stations can accommodate many cars at any given time. From October, E-Mart will be expanding the number of charging stations by 30 every year so that by 2021, the total number of stations within its overarching Shinsegae Group will reach 1100 including the 140-odd stations installed on the premises of its E-Mart stores.
The multi-car charging stations will each accommodate 18 cars that can be fully charged within 40 minutes at 100kWh, making them the fastest chargers in the nation.
A new payment system that automatically recognises the driver’s Hi Pass payment card number will make payment easy without requiring the driver to take out his or her credit card.
E-Mart was the first retailer in the nation to build charging stations for electric cars. The company currently operates more than 110 charging stations with a total capacity of charging 200 electric cars.