[Edaily Reporter Lee So-Hyun ] SOCAR(403550)is testing a bundled service that combines monthly parking passes with electric vehicle (EV) charging benefits. The company aims to enhance the convenience of EV use by utilizing parking spaces as charging hubs and is also exploring the possibility of expanding the service area in the future.

SOCAR’s parking platform, “Everyone’s Parking Lot,” announced on the 26th that it has signed a “Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation on the Pilot Operation of a Linked Electric Vehicle Parking and Charging Service” with Softberry, which operates the electric vehicle charging platform “EV Infrastructure,” and will begin a pilot program in select areas of Seoul for approximately three months.

This pilot project involves selling a product exclusively for electric vehicles that combines the charging benefits of “EV Pay”—EV Infrastructure’s charging payment service—with “Everyone’s Parking Lot’s” monthly parking pass.

600 kWh of Charging per Month… Average Range of 3,000 km

Purchasers of the bundled product can use up to 600 kWh of charging per month at charging stations within the participating parking lots after completing the registration and charging card issuance procedures.

While actual mileage varies depending on the vehicle model and driving conditions, SOCAR explained that 600 kWh is sufficient for an average range of approximately 3,000 km.

Softberry is responsible for providing the charging benefits and issuing the charging cards.

As this is a pilot program, the participating parking lots and the number of packages available are limited. “Daesang Parking Lot” notifies users in eligible areas about the package via app push notifications, and users can check whether the bundled package is available in the monthly parking pass list within the app.

Reviewing Expansion Based on 3-Month Data Report

The two companies will jointly analyze user satisfaction and usage data for approximately three months. Based on this, they plan to review follow-up collaboration measures, such as expanding the number of Daesang parking lots, driving mutual user acquisition between the two companies, and improving the efficiency of charging infrastructure usage.

This pilot project is an extension of SOCAR’s strategy to expand the electric vehicle ecosystem.

In 2024, SOCAR collaborated with LGELECTRONICS to build AI-based smart charging stations, primarily in Jeju, and in January of this year, it launched a pilot project to apply V2G (vehicle-to-grid) technology to its car rental service through a regulatory sandbox exemption.

At the Jeju SOCAR Terminal, the company has installed 15 bidirectional chargers and designated V2G-exclusive parking spaces to validate a business model that utilizes electric vehicles as distributed energy resources.

Furthermore, after participating in the Ministry of Environment’s “Korean Zero-Emission Vehicle Transition 100 (K-EV100)” initiative in 2021, the company has been increasing its fleet of electric vehicles.

In 2023, it became the first in the domestic car-sharing industry to receive approval for an external carbon credit project based on its electric vehicle operations, and last September, it received government certification for a reduction of 306 metric tons (tCO2eq) through an external greenhouse gas reduction project for electric vehicles conducted in collaboration with the climate tech firm Hush Partners.

Noh Hyun-cheol, Head of Everyone’s Parking Lot, said, “We recognized that for electric vehicle drivers, the parking space where they park their cars every day is also a charging space,” adding, “We will analyze user feedback during the pilot operation period and consider expanding the service to Daesang areas in the future.”