Hyosung Corp. has jumped into the electric car battery recharging business in earnest, with Korea Electric Power Corp. selecting the company as a participant in the EV (electric vehicle) Sharing Model Project, the company said recently.

The EV Sharing Project involves a driver renting an electricity-powered car from a parking lot near where he lives and returning the car to the lot, which is also equipped with electric battery recharging equipment.

Hyosung will supply four rapid recharger systems and 22 regular recharger systems for the project. The company has also installed six speedy recharger systems and 15 regular recharging systems in six areas including the parking lot at the National Assembly. The company also plans to place seven regular recharging systems in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province in the near future. Hyosung will control and monitor all of the recharging systems via remote control including instructions for drivers on how to operate the unmanned recharging systems.

Hyosung developed the car battery recharging system in 2010 and has supplied 120 car recharging systems to model car recharging sites designated by the government around the country. This is the first time the company has supplied the car battery recharging systems to a car recharging site serving private drivers.

The EV Sharing Project, initiated by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, will continue for 16 months from August 2012 at 11 model service stations all equipped with car battery recharging systems and several cars each, all of them the Ray by Kia Motors.

The people who want to drive the cars are required to apply online with the dates and hours during which they want to use the cars. They will then get the cars from the stations and the fees will be automatically charged to their credit cards, whose numbers they provided at the time of registration. The rental period ends when the cars are reconnected to the rechargers at the stations.

Total Operation Performance Project Results

The Ulsan Plant Tire and Industrial Reinforcements PU, Technical Yarn PU, and Ulsan Plant Management Headquarters held a briefing session on the TOP project completion and awards. The TOP (Total Operational Performance) project is a comprehensive cost innovation activity to improve corporate finance and establish a sustainable management system, and has been implemented in the three stages of setting goals, problem-solving, and execution, from February 2011 to March 2012. 

Cho Hyun-sang, head of the PG, encouraged employees to have an unyielding challenging spirit to achieve the cost reduction goals. The Tire and Industrial Reinforcements PU and Technical Yarn PU struggled to achieve their goals but eventually exceeded them by 127 percent and 120 percent, respectively, resulting in practical cost reduction effects. The project completion session and awards ceremony was held to share performance results and present an award to a team with excellent achievement results as well as to a staff member who proposed an excellent idea.