국내 전기차 충전기 설치 대수의 1%를 차지하는 LG U+와 전기차 충전 플랫폼 시장에서 중개건수 기준 약 16%를 차지한 카카오모빌리티의 시너지가 발휘될지 귀추가 주목된다.

▲Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG U+ (left) and Ryu Geung-sun, CEO of Kakao Mobility (Photo source: Kakao Mobility)
LG U+ and Kakao Mobility each have low market shares and clear competitors
Expected to resolve user inconvenience and grow the market through launching innovative services and price competition The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) approved the establishment of a joint venture between LG Uplus Corp. (LG U+) and Kakao Mobility Corp. (Kakao Mobility) for the operation of charging stations, citing the low market share of the electric vehicle charging-related business and the existence of clear competitors such as T Map.
Attention is focused on whether the synergy between LG U+, which accounts for 1% of the number of electric vehicle chargers installed in Korea, and Kakao Mobility, which accounts for approximately 16% of the number of brokerages in the electric vehicle charging platform market, will be realized.
The Fair Trade Commission approved the business combination on the 29th, judging that the possibility of restricting competition was low regarding the establishment of a joint venture between LG U+ and Kakao Mobility to operate electric vehicle charging stations (CPO, Charge Point Operator, hereinafter referred to as the “charging business”) (reported on July 13th of last year).
As a charging business operator, LG U+ has LG Energy Solution Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries, as its affiliate, and plans to transfer its current charging business to a new joint venture established through the establishment of this company.
Kakao Mobility is Kakao T It is a platform operator that provides various mobility services such as electric vehicle charging, taxis, and parking through apps, and has Kakao and Kakao Pay as its affiliates.
In the case of this merger, although it is a new company establishment, there were both interest and concerns in the market as LG U+ is already operating an electric vehicle charging business and Kakao Mobility is operating an electric vehicle charging platform.
Accordingly, the Fair Trade Commission examined the possibility that LG U+ and Kakao Mobility may restrict competition in the charging market from various perspectives, such as by using their dominance in electric vehicle charging-related fields and adjacent mobility markets such as taxis and parking to force their franchised electric taxis to use the joint venture's charging stations or to give preferential treatment to the joint venture through charging platforms, parking platforms, etc.
The Fair Trade Commission closely examined the possibility of restricting competition and determined that concerns about restricting competition were low for three reasons.
The first is low market share.
First of all, our company's market share in the electric vehicle charging market is not high.
▲ Current status of electric vehicle charging station operation market (Image source: Fair Trade Commission)
In the charging market, joint ventures are new entrants and have a low market share.
The newly established joint venture will enter the market by taking over LG U+'s charging business. As of July last year, LG U+ had only 2,507 chargers installed, giving it a market share of just 1.1%.
Electric car chargingThe market share in all platforms was not overwhelming either.
▲ Current status of electric vehicle charging platform market
(Image source: Fair Trade Commission)
Kakao Mobility's market share was 36.22% based on the number of monthly active users (MAU) in December 2023, but it is not high at 15.72% based on the number of brokerages.
Second, there are many competitors in the electric vehicle charging market, and competition is fierce.
In the case of the charging market, the conglomerates 'GS' and 'SK' are ranked 1st and 4th respectively, and not only do they have a large gap in market share with LG U+, but both companies are also engaged in the construction industry, which gives them an advantage in supplying charging stations centered around apartments.
In the case of Hyundai Motor Company and Tesla Korea Ltd., they are also directly engaged in the charging business and are researching and developing new electric vehicle charging methods, so as electric vehicle manufacturers, they are expected to have a significant impact on the electric vehicle charging market.
There are also strong competitors in the electric vehicle charging platform market, such as T Map Mobility Co., Ltd.
Based on the number of brokerage cases, the gap in market share between Kakao Mobility and T Map Mobility Co., Ltd. was not large.
In addition, the frequency of using Kakao T is low among those in their 20s and 30s, who have a low vehicle ownership rate.Considering that T Map's usage frequency is higher among those in their 40s to 60s and older, who have a high vehicle ownership rate, while its usage rate is higher than that of Map, T Map Mobility Co., Ltd. is expected to play a strong role as a competitor in the car owner service sector.
In addition, the Fair Trade Commission viewed Naver Corp. as a potential competitor that could enter the electric vehicle charging platform market in the future, as it also provides charging station search and route guidance services through Naver Map.
There is high consumer demand for services such as charging station reservations and charging failure/exit notifications, and Naver Corp. is expected to play a role as a competitor in providing such services.
Third, there is the possibility of promoting innovation competition.
The Fair Trade Commission judged that this merger would allow the companies to enter the charging market, thereby promoting competition in launching innovative services and price competition.
Despite the high charger penetration rate, it is expected that the situation in which users are experiencing many inconveniences due to charger failures and poor management can be improved, and that charging fees may be reduced as price competition becomes more active.
Meanwhile, LG U+ and Kakao Mobility signed a joint venture contract for the electric vehicle charging business last year as a strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of electric vehicle charging services and secure a leading position in the “Warring States Period,” when internal combustion engines are rapidly transitioning to electrification and digitalization and no clear market leader has yet emerged.
LG U+ and Kakao Mobility aim to provide a ‘customer experience that allows convenient charging whenever they want’ and ‘new values that did not exist before, such as safety and personalization’ by combining the capabilities of both companies to expand the insufficient electric vehicle charging infrastructure and take the lead in achieving the government’s 2050 net-zero goal.
Previously, the two companies had been strengthening their human and technological capabilities with the goal of expanding their electric vehicle charging business.
Following the launch of the electric vehicle charging service 'VoltUp' early last year, LG U+ acquired LG Hellovision's electric vehicle charging service 'Hello Plug-in' and integrated the services, combining the capabilities of both companies.
Since launching its electric vehicle charging service on the Kakao Navi app in 2021, Kakao Mobility has continued to expand smart features such as easy payment, charger location search, real-time charger usage history notification, and charger status display, thereby increasing accessibility and convenience.
On the day of the contract signing last year, LG U+ CEO Hwang Hyun-sik said, “First, we will focus on the apartment market, which is considered the area in most urgent need of electric vehicle charging infrastructure expansion, to quickly secure service coverage and increase customer loyalty through customer experience innovation.” He continued, “Through this, we will proactively secure a charging service ecosystem and operating platform, and evolve it into a ‘smart energy platform’ that optimizes supply and demand in the V2G∙V2X* market in the future.”
On the same day, Ryu Keung-sun, CEO of Kakao Mobility, said, “Through this joint venture, we aim to solve various problems that could not be avoided when using existing chargers through platform technology,” and “In the long term, we aim to discover new business models based on accumulated user data and evolve into a business operator leading the upcoming era of transition to electric vehicles.”