[Courtgesy of SK E&S]
SEOUL -- SK E&S, an energy company affiliated with South Korea's third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, has acquired EverCharge, a U.S. provider of electric vehicle charging services, as part of efforts to cope with growth in the U.S. electric vehicle charging market and achieve the goal of becoming a leading energy solution company.
Financial terms were not given. SK E&S has earmarked $400 million to finance its U.S. subsidiary. The money will be used to acquire EverCharge and make additional investments in the energy solution sector. This is the first time a Korean company has acquired the management rights of an EV charging company based in the U.S.
"Entry into the U.S. EV charging market is a starting point for SK E&S to be transformed into a carbon-neutral energy optimizer as it declared," Vice Chairman Yu Jeong-joon said in a statement on March 24. "I believe SK E&S will become a leading power solution company in the North American market within years as it leverages its energy solution business capabilities and synergy effects with SK Group."
EverCharge offers load-managed charging solutions on a turnkey basis at a lower installation cost, enabling people living in multi-tenant buildings to charge electric vehicles in a hassle-free manner. Their chargers can operate stably in places where communication conditions are disadvantageous, such as underground parking lots, using new network technology.
"The EV charging solution including manufacturing, installation, service and aftersales service of chargers enables significant optimization for our customer base which is growing rapidly and ultimately, contributes to rapid deployment of EV fleets," EverCharge CEO Jason Appelbaum was quoted as saying.
The U.S. EV charging infrastructure market is expected to grow fast at an annual rate of 27 percent on average from two million chargers in 2020 to 20 million in 2030. EverCharge’s chargers are connected by a mesh network that allows greater coverage than conventional Wi-Fi and works even in the harshest underground environments, allowing for reliable operations of chargers in parking garages and other locations.
SK E&S thinks that energy solutions are expected to grow exponentially and as a new industry can address these challenges effectively by combining energy storage systems and artificial Intelligence.
In the American market, SK E&S would provide a comprehensive energy solution service that integrates grids, distributed energy resources and mobility. In 2021, the company invested in Rev Renewables, a U.S. energy solution provider, and secured management rights of Key Capture Energy (KEC) and vowed to nurture it as a global leader in the energy solution market through additional investment.
KCE identifies, develops, constructs and operates energy storage solutions to foster greater deployment of renewable energy. The company aims to have more than one gigawatts of battery storage projects in operation in New York, New England, and Texas by the close of 2023, under a variety of offtake contracts.
Grid solution is a new industry that combines energy storage linked to transmission and distribution networks with artificial intelligence technology to maintain a constant electricity supply. The grid solution business solves the instability of power supply due to the expansion of renewable energy and reduces social costs due to the expansion of power grids as large-scale power transmission and distribution networks are not required.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
