Gwangju City Accelerates Infrastructure Development for Hydrogen Electric Vehicle Charging Facilities

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 10th that it has been finally selected in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s “Development Project of Core Technologies for Metropolitan Hydrogen Refueling Stations for Simultaneous Multi-Model Hydrogen Electric Vehicle Charging” competition, creating an opportunity to lead the development of core technologies for hydrogen mobility infrastructure and to establish a foundation for the hydrogen industry ecosystem.

Currently, there are 50 hydrogen refueling stations nationwide that have been built and are in operation. However, due to the system configuration where one hydrogen refueling station charges only one hydrogen electric vehicle at a time, users experience significant inconvenience as they have to wait to charge from as few as 2-3 vehicles to more than 10 vehicles during peak times when hydrogen electric vehicles are concentrated.

The metropolitan hydrogen refueling station core technology development project promoted by Gwangju this time is a project to build a metropolitan hydrogen refueling station capable of simultaneously charging 4 to 6 hydrogen electric vehicles at high speed at one station, in order to improve problems such as long waiting times caused by one vehicle per station charging and inconvenience in using the station due to station malfunction inspections.

By 2024, a total project cost of 16.1 billion KRW (10.8 billion KRW national funds, 1.2 billion KRW city funds, 4.1 billion KRW private investment) will be invested, and the Korea Automotive Technology Institute and related organizations will develop core technologies such as multi-model simultaneous charging and high-flow high-speed charging. After pre-testing at the Korea Automotive Technology Institute located in Jingok Industrial Complex, the technologies will be installed at the metropolitan hydrogen refueling station for demonstration operation.

Along with this, Gwangju City has completed and is operating the Jingok, Donggok, and Imam refueling stations to expand the supply of eco-friendly vehicles and the construction of hydrogen refueling stations, and is preparing to complete the Byeokjin refueling station on the 21st.

Going forward, Gwangju plans to add 3 to 4 hydrogen refueling stations annually and build a total of 50 stations in major areas by 2030.

In addition, Gwangju will accelerate the advancement of hydrogen refueling technology and the discovery of future new hydrogen-related industries by promoting the “Hydrogen and Electric Vehicle Convergence Station Localization Technology Development Demonstration” project for the localization of hydrogen refueling stations and development of a Korean-style hydrogen refueling station model, as well as the “Hydrogen Refueling Station Fault Prediction and Safety Management Commercialization Technology Development” project for developing a smart diagnostic system to prevent hydrogen refueling station malfunctions.

Son Kyung-jong, Director of the City’s Artificial Intelligence Industry Bureau, said, “By creating convenient charging conditions where multiple hydrogen electric vehicles can be charged simultaneously, Gwangju will lead the establishment of the hydrogen industry ecosystem and create an opportunity to lead global technology development through the development of top-level core components for refueling stations. Since many institutions based in Gwangju are participating, we will strive to revitalize local hydrogen-related companies and create many high-quality jobs.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.