LG opens its first EV charging station factory in the U.S.

People view the LG e-Centric EV charging station at CES 2024 in Las Vegas. (AP)

LG Electronics on Friday opened its first factory in the U.S. for assembling electric-vehicle charging stations as the South Korean electronics giant looks to capture a share in the fast-growing market dominated by ChargePoint and Tesla.

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, the company’s 100,000 square feet new factory has an annual capacity of 12,000 units, LG said in a statement.

The company already has a distribution center in the city.

LG, a high-end TV manufacturer, has been trying to diversify its business into fresh sectors like EV charging and digital healthcare.

It acquired South Korean EV charger provider AppleMango in 2022 as part of its foray into the sector.

The company is entering a highly competitive charging market, dominated by companies like ChargePoint Holdings and Elon Musk-led Tesla, as federal funding and government incentives have helped to expand the EV charging network in the United States.

The number of available charging ports in the U.S. nearly doubled from late 2019 to the first quarter of 2023, according to the Office of the U.S. Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.

The facility will initially assemble Level-2 smaller portable wall chargers and produce Level-3 touch-screen display models later in the year.