118 units of 200-kilowatt chargers, 13 multi-chargers to be installed

NACS-equipped chargers to expand convenience for Tesla drivers

A Chaevi charger installed at a highway rest stop. [Chaevi]
A Chaevi charger installed at a highway rest stop. [Chaevi]

Electric vehicle charging service company Chaevi said Wednesday it has been named the preferred bidder for the Korea Expressway Corporation's "2026 Highway Rest Stop EV Charging Infrastructure Project (Unit 2)," securing the contract for a second consecutive year and pushing ahead with the expansion of its nationwide rapid charging network.

Chaevi had previously been selected as the operator for the "2025 Highway Rest Stop EV Charging Infrastructure Project (Unit 3)" and has now been named preferred bidder for this year's project as well. Following negotiations and contract procedures with the Korea Expressway Corporation, the company plans to build charging infrastructure at 29 highway rest stops across the country — including the Yeoju (Gangneung) and Yongin (Gangneung) rest stops in the Seoul and Gyeonggi Province area, as well as sites in Gangwon Province, North Chungcheong Province, Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province, North Jeolla Province, Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, and Busan and South Gyeongsang Province.

The project will install a total of 131 chargers — 118 units rated at 200 kilowatts and 13 multi-chargers. The expansion will extend Chaevi's highway charging network, which has until now been concentrated in the Yeongnam and Honam regions, to major areas nationwide.

Chaevi will also expand charging infrastructure based on the North American Charging Standard (NACS) for Tesla users. Of the 200-kilowatt chargers to be installed under this year's project, 82 will be equipped with NACS connectors. Combined with the 2025 project, the total number of NACS-equipped chargers Chaevi will have installed at highway rest stops will reach 167 — accounting for about 62 percent of all Chaevi highway rest stop chargers built across the two years.

The NACS-equipped 200-kilowatt Chaevi chargers support a maximum charging current of 250 amperes. Chaevi said this reduces current limitations tied to charger performance and allows Tesla vehicles to make more effective use of their supported charging capacity. The expansion is also expected to increase the number of highway rest stop locations where Tesla drivers can use rapid charging without a separate CCS1 (DC Combo) adapter.

Utilization rates at existing highway charging stations are already running high. An analysis of July usage data from the 23 locations and 109 charging bays Chaevi operates under the 2025 project found that the average daily number of charges per bay was about 2.5 times higher than at general charging stations.

Chaevi said the strong charging turnover driven by highway users is also having a positive effect on its charging service sales.

The company has also introduced services to improve charging convenience. Its highway rest stop chargers feature the "Baro Chaevi" plug-and-charge (PnC) service, which automatically handles vehicle authentication, charging and payment the moment a connector is plugged in — with no app launch or membership card required.

"Through the highway rest stop EV charging infrastructure project, we are creating an environment where EV users can travel long distances without worrying about charging, while proactively responding to the diversification of domestic charging standards by expanding NACS connector-equipped chargers," Chaevi CEO Choi Young-hoon said. "We will continue to expand ultra-rapid charging infrastructure, drawing on the capabilities we have built up across charger development, installation and operation."


eyre@heraldcorp.com