Journal of Korean Society of Transportation ISSN:1229-1366(Print) 2234-4217(Online) 대한교통학회지

To respond to climate change and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the Korean government is promoting a policy to expand the supply of electric vehicles, a representative eco-friendly vehicle. Building EV charging-based infrastructure is very important to expand the spread of electric vehicles. Recently, the construction of EV charging infrastructure is being promoted to shift from government led initiatives to private sector ones. The profitability of the EV charging business is a important factor for private charging service operators (CSOs) to continuously participate in the charging infrastructure business. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to analyze the possibility of the private sector entering the charging infrastructure business by examining the charging behavior of EV users. As, currently, the supply of EVs and the construction of charging infrastructure varies depending on regions and places, there is a difference in the behavior of using EV chargers. Based on the examined charger usage behavior, a profitability analysis of the charging infrastructure business was performed. As a result, it was found that, in the current rate system that provides a discount on charging cost, slow chargers are installed in 9 municipalities including Jeju, generating profits in some places including highway rest areas. For fast chargers, although a discount on charging cost is also provided, there is no profit yet due to the relatively high cost of the charger. It was analyzed that losses would be incurred regardless of the charger type, installation region, or installation location if the discount benefits for charging cost were not applied. This study is expected to contribute to the government’s policy of shifting EV charging infrastructure construction from the government to the private sector and private investment in charging infrastructure. In future research, if fast and slow charger usage behaviors are updated, it is thought that it will be possible to analyze the profitability of charging infrastructure in detail.