Kia and YW Mobile Collaborate to Develop Electric Vehicle 'Pickup Charging Platform' Together

On-Demand Method... Easy Charging with Smartphone Simple Call

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] Kia is partnering with a mobility solutions company to jointly develop an electric vehicle 'pickup charging' platform.

On the 17th, Kia announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with YW Mobile on the 16th at BEAT360 in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to jointly develop an on-demand pickup charging platform tailored to customer needs.

The purpose of this agreement is to enable Kia electric vehicle customers to conveniently use charging services through pickup charging. The main goal is to develop and operate a one-stop service that covers everything from easy smartphone requests to vehicle pickup, rapid charging, and vehicle return.

Specifically, when Kia electric vehicle customers request the on-demand pickup charging service through the 'Kia VIK' app, a dedicated charging agent will visit the requested location, take possession of the vehicle, perform rapid charging at a nearby charging station, and then return the vehicle at the location desired by the customer.

In particular, the two companies plan to develop the service in connection with the digital key technology to be applied to Kia's first dedicated electric vehicle, the EV6, scheduled for release in the second half of this year. This will allow vehicle pickup and charging without direct face-to-face contact, even if the customer and the vehicle are in different locations. Additionally, during the service process, information such as vehicle movement status, charging status, and estimated charging time will be sent to customers in real time to enhance convenience.

Furthermore, the two companies plan to guarantee a sufficient amount of charging (about 80-90% of the total battery capacity) for everyday driving, rather than a small amount of emergency charging (7 kWh to 20 kWh) in urgent situations such as battery depletion, to improve customer satisfaction.

Under the goal of implementing nationwide on-demand pickup charging services in the second half of this year, Kia will be responsible for supporting the development of digital key and real-time vehicle information linkage services, while YW Mobile will be in charge of developing and operating the platform for the on-demand pickup charging service.

A Kia official said, "As the electric vehicle market expands, charging convenience is becoming increasingly important," adding, "We expect to contribute to the development of the electric vehicle ecosystem by providing convenient charging experiences to electric vehicle customers."

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