LG Electronics has officially opened its first EV charger production factory in the U.S., with plans to capture a significant part of the expanding market.
The new 5,500-square-meter facility, located in Fort Worth, Texas, will produce chargers for the North American market on a mass scale, with an expected annual capacity of more than 10,000 units.
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Charging infrastructure business is booming
The growing sales of all-electric cars in North America drive up demand for charging infrastructure and attract new manufacturers.
The initial production includes AC charging points (11 kilowatts), but the main topic is DC fast chargers, which will enter production in the first half of this year. LG intends to start with 175-kW chargers, and later in 2024 add a 350-kW model.
Only a few other companies are preparing for a similarly high or higher scale of DC fast charger production, including Tritium in Tennessee, and ABB in South Carolina, to name just a few.
The all-electric car sales in the U.S. recently exceeded one million annually for the very first time and are expected to expand to several times higher levels by 2030. This not only requires a comparable number of AC charging points for home, work, or public charging but also tens of thousands of new DC fast chargers.
The existing networks, including Electrify America with 859 locations and 3,729 chargers in the U.S. and EVgo with over 950 locations, must significantly expand to accommodate millions of additional EVs that are coming. The Tesla Supercharging network expands quite consistently too, although in this case, Tesla is producing its own chargers in-house.
For LG Electronics, which has also an EV charger manufacturing operation under its affiliated company HiEV Charger in South Korea, this is an interesting business opportunity.
Jang Ik-hwan, president of the LG Business Solutions Company said: “By establishing our EV charger production factory in Texas, we will be able to actively respond to the rapidly growing demand for EV infrastructure in the U.S.. LG is dedicated to delivering uncompromising quality and will offer customers reliable EV charging solutions that combine efficient charger units with advanced control systems.”
