Korea Electric Power Corp. said Tuesday that it has established electric vehicle charging stations on a highway, a first time for the nation.

The six new charging stations are located at rest areas on Jungbu Expressway near Icheon, Eumseong and Ochang ― both northbound and southbound, the firm said. Another was launched at the KEPCO Research Institute in Daejeon.

A total of 12 charging machines are available at the six highway stations, according to KEPCO. It takes the fast chargers 25 minutes and the slower ones six hours to charge a vehicle. Payments can be made by credit cards and T-money transportation cards.

KEPCO and the research institute have already completed a test drive between Seoul and Daejeon (164 kilometers) by an electric vehicle as well as test-operations of the charging stations, the firm said.

“We plan to further seek the most-suitable charging solution and technology, thus accelerating the commercialization of electric vehicles in the country and lead its green growth drive,” a KEPCO official said.

The firm had launched this type of charging station at the company’s headquarters in Samsung-dong, southern Seoul, in October for the G20 Summit. It has one rapid-recharging machine with 50-kilowatt capacity and three slower 7.7-kilowatt capacity chargers.

By Koh Young-aah (youngaah@heraldcorp.com)