Korea Electric Power Corp. said Tuesday that it has established electric vehicle charging stations on a highway, a first time for the nation.

The six new charging stations are located at rest areas on Jungbu Expressway near Icheon, Eumseong and Ochang ― both northbound and southbound, the firm said. Another was launched at the KEPCO Research Institute in Daejeon.

A total of 12 charging machines are available at the six highway stations, according to KEPCO. It takes the fast chargers 25 minutes and the slower ones six hours to charge a vehicle. Payments can be made by credit cards and T-money transportation cards.

An electric car charging station on Jungbu Expressway KEPCO
An electric car charging station on Jungbu Expressway KEPCO

An electric car charging station on Jungbu Expressway (KEPCO)

KEPCO and the research institute have already completed a test drive between Seoul and Daejeon (164 kilometers) by an electric vehicle as well as test-operations of the charging stations, the firm said.

“We plan to further seek the most-suitable charging solution and technology, thus accelerating the commercialization of electric vehicles in the country and lead its green growth drive,” a KEPCO official said.

The firm had launched this type of charging station at the company’s headquarters in Samsung-dong, southern Seoul, in October for the G20 Summit. It has one rapid-recharging machine with 50-kilowatt capacity and three slower 7.7-kilowatt capacity chargers.

By Koh Young-aah (youngaah@heraldm.com)