Korea Testing Certification instutute (KTC) announced that it has signed a business agreement with TUV Rheinland in Cologne, Germany on May 11th to support the export of domestic companies in the fields of electric vehicle chargers, batteries, solar modules, and inverters.
TUV Rheinland, a leading global independent testing and certification service provider, will collaborate with KTC to provide diverse testing and certification services for the major export destinations of domestic electric vehicle charger companies, namely the United States, Japan, and Europe. KTC is an internationally accredited certification body (CBTL) for electric vehicle chargers and has also been designated as a testing organization for safety (UL) and energy efficiency (Energy Star) in the United States, working in partnership with UL Solutions to support domestic companies' exports to the US market. Furthermore, KTC was registered as a testing laboratory by Germany's VDE in March and has signed business agreements with Japanese testing and certification bodies such as JET, COSMOS, and UL Japan.
The European Union (EU) has been strengthening regulations on carbon emissions from automobiles as part of its response to the climate crisis, leading to significant growth in the electric vehicle market. The market is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 34%, from 4.4 million units in 2022 to 45.5 million units in 2030, resulting in increased demand for electric vehicle chargers. In line with this, the EU's Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy aims to increase public charging points to 1 million by 2025 and 3 million by 2030. As a result, the export volume of domestic electric vehicle chargers to Europe has been growing rapidly, with an annual increase of nearly 60% since 2021.
By utilizing KTC to obtain European certifications, companies can significantly reduce the lead time of more than one month and logistics costs of approximately 20 million KRW that are typically incurred when using European certification bodies. This approach also helps address the challenges faced by companies that need to dispatch technical personnel locally for debugging. During the visit, KTC established close cooperation with TUV Rheinland, not only in the field of electric vehicle chargers but also in the testing of batteries, solar modules, and inverters, creating opportunities for domestic companies to enter the German market.
President Sungil Ahn of KTC stated, "Through this agreement, we can support the export of domestic companies to Europe, following the increasing demand for electric vehicles in Japan and the United States," and added, "We will continue to make efforts to support the global market entry of domestic companies."
