Ultra-fast 400-kW charging is now available for the first time at a highway rest area in South Korea. Water, an electric vehicle fast-charging network run by Bright Energy Partners, said on Sept. 30 it has begun operating a charging station at the Cheongju rest area on the Gyeongbu Expressway in the Seoul-bound direction. Two 400-kW chargers and two 200-kW chargers have been installed at the site. It is the first Water charging station to open under a project by Korea Expressway Corp to expand charging infrastructure at rest areas.

Water will sequentially build 123 new chargers at 23 rest areas in Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, Gangwon and Gyeongsang. It will place at least two 400-kW chargers at each rest area, making 62 units 400-kW chargers out of the total. More than 10 locations will begin operating in October, and the rest will open in stages.

All new chargers will be equipped with both the North American Charging Standard, or NACS, and a DC Combo connector. Tesla vehicles will also be charged without an adapter, at about 120 to 200 kW depending on the model. For Hyundai Motor's Ioniq 5, which uses an 800-volt high-voltage system, the manufacturer said it can accept up to 238 kW based on an 84-kWh battery, charging from 10 percent to 80 percent in 18 minutes on a 400-kW charger.

Water members will pay 294 won per kWh for 1 year from the day each charging station opens. That is about 100 won cheaper than the 393.1 won public ultra-fast charging rate for 200 kW or higher posted by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment. The cost to add 32 kWh, enough to drive about 165 km in an Ioniq 5, is about 9,400 won. That is about 3,200 won less than when calculated at the public rate.

Water currently operates 274 chargers at 50 rest areas. Once all the new chargers are in operation, it will secure a highway charging network of 397 chargers across 73 rest areas, including privately financed rest areas.

Dae-won Yoo (유대원), head of Bright Energy Partners' electric vehicle charging business unit (Water), said, "The only place where charging speed effectively translates directly into a driver's time is a highway rest area, so we joined Korea Expressway Corp's project to expand charging infrastructure with the highest-output chargers." He added, "We plan to open the remaining rest-area charging stations one by one on schedule so that drivers can charge without 부담 on the highway, no matter what electric vehicle they drive."