The City of Plano will have a hand in the future of America’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
SK Signet, South Korea’s global manufacturer of EV (electric vehicle) charging stations, has chosen Plano for its first U.S. plant.
“We searched over 40 different locations in the U.S. and we found Plano is the best location for our product and our manufacturing facility,” said SK Signet CEO Jung Ho Shin. “It’s a business-friendly environment and Plano’s great assistance and also the availability of highly-skilled labor here.”
Leaders of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate led local, state and international leaders and potential buyers on a tour of the new facility along East Plano Parkway.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
The company is creating up to 183 skilled jobs for the Plano facility by 2026, across manufacturing and R&D roles, according to SK Signet.
The plant will produce more than 10,000 ultra-fast charging stations with 350-400kW allowing for a more accessible and less time-consuming EV charge, 15 to 20 minutes according to SK Signet.
Shin aims to transform America’s transportation infrastructure.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“EV chargers are not widely available and not fast enough but with our product with 400kW really super-fast chargers and American-made ones. They will expedite EV in the United States,” he added.
According to company representatives, SK Signet will produce the charging stations and sell them to ‘charge point operators’ like Irish corporation Applegreen.
Operators will then introduce the charging stations at traditional convenience stores as well as public and privately-owned companies with EV fleets.
The ‘price at the pump’ will vary and be up to each operator but is expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-$20 for a full charge, according to SK
Signet reps.
Guests were invited to tour the facility, watching a small group of assembly workers in action.
They are part of the company’s pilot production.
Rene Jimenez of Arlington says he went from working in fast food to this assembly line, grateful to finally put his electrical engineering education from his native El Salvador to use.
“This has been a good journey, very exciting to tell you the truth and I see the future here,” said Jimenez with a smile. “In a couple of years, we’re going to see these in all the places and it’s going to be really good for me to say: Hey, I worked on that!”
We asked Plano Mayor John Muns what makes Plano a desirable location for this kind of industry.
“It has to do with our resources we have. Our educated workforce and our diversity we have here in Plano,” said Muns. “Also the corporate community that exists here in Plano is quite impressive but at the end of the day, we have a Korean community here in Plano and I think word got out that Plano was a great place to come.”
Muns says the company sought Plano out, though the city later approved economic incentives in the form of grants based on the number of jobs created, renovations and fee rebates totaling $975,000.
“Having it right here in Plano is going to make access to the rest of Texas that needs more charging stations and quite frankly they’re going through the United States with this,” said Muns. “This is the base of the new battery charging stations.”
According to DFW Clean Cities Coalition, Texas had more than 191,000 electric vehicles registered in the month of May, 66,000 more vehicles than in May of 2022.
The coalition’s dashboard showed just under 70,000 EVs registered in the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex in May 2023.
Commercial production will begin in July.
At full capacity, the Plano facility expects to produce more than 10,000 fast chargers a year.
