Korea establishes world's first electric vehicle charger technology standards.
Installation of the first four certified PSTEK EV chargers
Installed public chargers to be repaired after on-site inspection


The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's National Institute of Standards and Technology (KATS) announced on the 30th that the first electric vehicle (EV) charger that meets the standards of legal meters, such as accurate charging amount and anti-tampering, is launching a charging service.

Electric vehicle chargers began to be managed as legal meters starting this year, and accordingly, the Korea Testing Laboratory, a certification body, began the certification process for 38 products from 15 companies in January of this year.

Four 50kW rapid chargers (EVQ-11S-05) from PS Tech Co., Ltd., which have been certified, have been installed at the Buk Seoul Museum of Art in Nowon-gu, Seoul, and from the 30th, electric vehicle users will be able to use government-managed electric vehicle chargers.

As a legal meter, the charger is subject to regular maintenance, including error re-evaluation every seven years after installation.

As the number of electric vehicles and their charging facilities increases in Korea, and the charging rates for electric vehicles, which have been relatively cheap so far, are scheduled to gradually increase starting this year, consumer interest in accurate charging rates is expected to grow further in the future.

In response to these environmental changes, the Korea Testing & Research Institute has been establishing regulations on the management of legal meters and maximum allowable errors for electric vehicle chargers since 2016. We discussed this with relevant industries and experts, and last year, we established the world's first technical standards for electric vehicle chargers.

China is currently planning to include electric vehicle chargers in its managed meters starting in November of this year, and the United States is also preparing a related system.

Meanwhile, until electric vehicle chargers are managed as legal meters, most of the approximately 29,000 public chargers installed in Korea are products that already have built-in type-approved power meters. To more accurately manage charging amount errors, measures such as repair and software update support will be prepared after an on-site investigation.