A group of high-ranking officials of Korea Land and Housing “Corp.(LH) and Samsung-Renault Motor cut the tape to open the LH Happy Car Sharing Service event held on Nov. 27 to commemorate the introduction of 45 EVs provided by the car maker to be used in the car sharing service for the first time.

Korea Land and Housing Corp.(LH) will include, for the first time, the electric cars(EVs) in its Car Sharing Platform service provided to the residents in the rental housing complexes, the company said on Nov. 28. LH said it held a celebration for providing electric vehicles under the “LH Happy Car” sharing service for the first time at the Mirinae No. 4-2 Housing Complex in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.

The LH Happy ‘Car has 28,000 members around the country as it operates at 125 rental housing complexes near the major cities with a fleet of 180 cars including electric cars that are available to the residents in those complexes. The company will put into the car rental service 45 EVs cars, the Renault-Samsung EV model, at 23 rental housing complexes around Seoul.

The EV model take up some 80 percent of Renault’s small EV car model sales and the 3 EV cars can be parked at a parking space for just one ordinary passenger vehicle to note an advantage for driving EVs around.

The Renault EV car model’s battery can be recharged at the 220 V consent installed at home, not requiring additional expense for the battery. The EV model can run 80 km in maximum distance after battery recharge, making the car handy for the housewives to go shopping on the car or driving their children to schools. LH officials said.

President Park Sang-woo test-rides on an EV at the LH Happy Car Sharing Service event. (Photos: LH)

The cost for battery recharging is 3,000 won per hour, without any additional expenses, although the LH Happy Cars with combustion engines had to pay from 160 to 170 won per 1 km of the driving distance. The LH officials said the LH Happy Car service program will make the car sharing service thriving if the EV cars take up most of the cars for rentals as their costs are cheap and very good for driving short distances for work.

The long-term corporate credit rating on Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH; local currency A+/Stable/–; foreign currency A+/Stable/–) is equalized with the rating on the Republic of Korea (local currency A+/Stable/A-1; foreign currency A/Stable/A-1), reflecting Standard & Poor's Ratings Services' opinion that there is an almost certain likelihood that the Korean government will provide timely and sufficient extraordinary support to LH in the event that it suffers financial distress. In accordance with our criteria for government-related entities (GREs), we assess that LH has the following role for and link with the government:

• A critical role as the sole government-owned entity responsible for carrying out the government's objective to provide a stable supply of land and low-cost public housing; and

• An integral link with the government due to the government's full ownership, strong ongoing financial support, and tight supervision and control. In our assessment, LH's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) fits into the weak 'bb' category.

LH has a weak financial risk profile due to its continued weak cash flow and large capital expenditures. Ongoing government financial support mitigates this risk, and we have incorporated this factor into the SACP for LH. LH was established under the Korea Land and Housing Corporation Act on Oct. 1, 2009, in a merger of the Korea Land Corporation (KLC) and Korea National Housing Corporation (KNHC).

In 2010, the agency generated 40% of its sales from land development and 59% from housing development and rental housing. LH is Korea's biggest land developer as it has exclusive rights to develop industrial complexes, and provided 23% of total domestic housing supply in 2017.