There are more than 3,400 charging stations for electric vehicles in South Korea now. Compared to 25,000 electric vehicles owned by people in South Korea, there is one charging station for every 7 electric vehicles. Although charging stations are not evenly distributed across South Korea, accessibility to charging stations for electric vehicles has improved by a lot considering the fact that there is one gas station for every 1,514 regular cars. Some point out that there are too many charging stations compared to number of electric vehicles supplied.
According to a comprehensive information service called EVWHERE, which provides information on charging infrastructures for electric vehicles, it was calculated that there were 3,404 public charging stations in South Korea at the end of January. Compared to how there were only 849 charging stations in January of 2017 which was calculated by Korea Energy Economics Institute, number of charging stations quadrupled.
There are 2,369 slow-speed chargers and 2,495 high-speed chargers at these 3,404 charging stations. Currently about 25,000 electric vehicles are supplied in South Korea. There is one charging station for every 7 electric vehicles while there is one charger for every 4 electric vehicles.
Furthermore, South Korean Government offered a slow-speed charger (7kWh) for family use at no cost when electric vehicles were beginning to be sold to people. Supply rate can be even higher when personal chargers, which are not included into statistics, are added to total amount.

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<Picture of a parking lot at I’Park Mall for electric vehicles. Although there are 21 chargers, there is only one or two electric vehicles that are actually being charged.>

Distribution of charging stations, which are mostly located near Seoul and Jeju, is being improved slowly. According to calculation, Gyeonggi-do has the most charging stations with 574 charging stations (1,013 chargers) followed by Seoul (524, 1,003 chargers), Gyeongsang-do (397, 615 chargers), Jeju (367, 595 chargers), and Chungcheong (286, 405 chargers). Gangwon-do has 200 charging stations (306 chargers) while Ulsan-si was the metropolitan area with the least number of charging stations with 29 charging stations (42 chargers).
“Usually profitability corresponds to 100 electric vehicles per one high-speed charger.” said CEO Lee Yong-kwon of EVWHERE. “Considering this number, South Korea has more than 200,000 charging infrastructures for electric vehicles already.” He also added by saying that these charging stations need to be inspected if they are operating efficiently since number of charging stations for electric vehicles is very considering the fact that there are about 2,000 charging stations in South Korea for 2 million to 3 million LPG cars.
CEO Lee is explaining that South Korean Government needs to decide on policies that will consider charging time of electric vehicles that is a lot longer than that of regular cars and profitability of relevant private businesses.
Ministry of Environment set up 12,441 slow-speed chargers and about 1,500 high-speed chargers throughout South Korea last year through Korea Environment Corporation. At the same time, Korea Electric Power Corporation set up more than 4,000 chargers at apartment complexes. On the other hand, there are about 14,000 gas stations and about 20.1 million regular cars in South Korea.
Staff Reporter Park, Taejoon | gaius@etnews.com

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<■Current situation of public charging stations for electric vehicles in South Korea ▲Number of charging stations ΔGyeonggi-do: 574 ΔSeoul: 524 ΔGyeongsang-do: 397 ΔJeju-do: 367 ΔChungcheong-do: 286 ΔJeolla-do: 246 ΔGangwon-do: 200 ΔDaegu: 196 ΔBusan: 170 ΔIncheon: 168 ΔDaejeon: 122 ΔGwangju: 91 ΔSaejong: 34 ΔUlsan: 29 ΔTotal: 3,404 ▲Number of chargers ΔGyeonggi-do: 1,013 ΔSeoul: 1,003 ΔGyeongsang-do: 615 ΔJeju-do: 595 ΔChungcheong-do: 405 ΔJeolla-do: 344 ΔGangwon-do: 306 ΔDaegu: 487 ΔBusan: 225 ΔIncheon: 299 ΔDaejeon: 219 ΔGwangju: 129 ΔSaejong: 91 ΔUlsan: 42 ΔTotal: 5,773 ▲Number of high-speed chargers ΔGyeonggi-do: 382 ΔSeoul: 317 ΔGyeongsang-do: 343 ΔJeju-do: 370 ΔChungcheong-do: 209 ΔJeolla-do: 223 ΔGangwon-do: 173 ΔDaegu: 138 ΔBusan: 77 ΔIncheon: 76 ΔDaejeon: 77 ΔGwangju: 54 ΔSaejong: 23 ΔUlsan: 33 ΔTotal: 2,495 Reference: EVWHERE >