A 400-kilowatt EV charger can push a compatible vehicle’s battery from 10 percent to 80 percent in roughly 18 minutes. That is about half the time most public fast chargers take today. SK Signet, a South Korean charging hardware manufacturer with a factory in Plano, Texas, has signed a long-term supply agreement with Oklahoma-based charging network operator Francis Energy to deploy 1,000 of these ultra-fast dispensers across American public stations.
The deal, announced by SK Signet, pairs a hardware company that has already cleared federal certification hurdles with a network operator that specializes in building stations along rural and underserved highway corridors. If the partnership delivers on its stated scale, it would place some of the fastest publicly available chargers in the country in areas where EV infrastructure is thinnest.
Why 400 kilowatts matters
Most public DC fast chargers installed across the U.S. still top out between 150 and 350 kilowatts. Networks like Electrify America and Tesla’s Supercharger system have begun rolling out 350 kW hardware at select locations, but the average roadside fast charger a driver encounters remains well below that ceiling. SK Signet’s 400 kW dispensers would represent the upper end of what is commercially available.
The speed advantage is most pronounced for newer EVs built on 800-volt electrical architectures, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Porsche Taycan. These vehicles can accept higher power input without the charger throttling down to protect the battery. For drivers of older or lower-voltage EVs, a 400 kW station would still charge at whatever rate the vehicle can handle, but the hardware headroom means the station is future-proofed as automakers continue pushing battery technology forward.
Faster charging also has a practical benefit for station operators. Shorter sessions mean each plug can serve more vehicles per hour, reducing the queuing bottleneck that frustrates drivers at busy corridors during holiday travel or peak commuting windows.
Federal certification and domestic manufacturing
SK Signet’s SHDP350K-NCC-PS power cabinet paired with the HPC175K-PS dispenser holds an ENERGY STAR certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That listing confirms the product configuration has passed standardized efficiency testing for both standby and active operation and is approved for sale in the U.S. and Canadian markets.
ENERGY STAR certification is not a blanket endorsement of real-world performance. It verifies that the hardware meets specific energy-efficiency thresholds under controlled laboratory conditions. It does not measure uptime reliability, thermal behavior in extreme heat or cold, or average charge-session efficiency over thousands of cycles. Those metrics only emerge from extended field deployment, and no independent third-party data on SK Signet’s 400 kW units operating in real-world conditions has been published as of May 2026.
The company says it manufactures at a facility in Plano, Texas, a claim made in its partnership announcement. Domestic production is strategically important because the federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, backed by $7.5 billion in federal funding, requires chargers installed with its grants to meet Buy America provisions. Hardware assembled in the U.S. qualifies. That gives Francis Energy a potential edge when applying for state-administered NEVI funds to offset installation costs.
Francis Energy’s focus on underserved corridors
Francis Energy is not a household name alongside ChargePoint or Electrify America, but the company has carved out a specific niche. Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it has focused on deploying charging stations in rural communities and along highway stretches where major networks have been slow to build. That strategy aligns with one of NEVI’s core goals: ensuring EV drivers can travel long distances without gaps in charging coverage, particularly through less densely populated states in the Great Plains and the South.
The partnership with SK Signet suggests Francis Energy is betting that station quality, not just station quantity, will determine which networks attract repeat customers. A driver choosing between a 150 kW charger and a 400 kW charger at competing stations along the same highway has a strong incentive to pick the faster option, especially on a road trip where every extra minute at a plug adds up.
Francis Energy has not released its own public statement detailing deployment timelines, specific station locations, or which states will see installations first. The partnership announcement came from SK Signet, and the deployment schedule, site selection criteria, and any performance guarantees have not been disclosed by either party.
What the deal does not tell us
Several significant details remain undisclosed. The financial terms of the agreement, including total contract value, per-unit pricing, and warranty structure, have not been made public. It is unclear whether the 1,000-unit figure represents a firm purchase order or a framework agreement that either company could scale up or down depending on market conditions and funding availability.
SK Signet’s Plano facility capacity is also unspecified. The company has not stated how many units it can produce per month or whether fulfilling the 1,000-unit order requires expanding its current production lines. Without that information, it is difficult to project a realistic installation timeline.
There is also the question of connector standards. The EV industry has been shifting toward Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector, with most major automakers adopting it for new models starting in 2025. SK Signet’s ENERGY STAR listing references connector types, but neither company has publicly clarified whether the 400 kW dispensers will include NACS ports alongside the Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors that have been the default at non-Tesla stations. For a network trying to attract the widest possible customer base, dual-connector support would be a significant selling point.
No subsequent press releases, regulatory filings, or grant award documents have surfaced as of May 2026 to confirm that production or installation under this agreement has begun. The partnership should be understood as a signed commercial commitment with verified hardware behind it, not as confirmation that stations are under construction.
Where this fits in the broader charging race
The U.S. public charging landscape has been expanding rapidly but unevenly. The NEVI program has moved from planning into active deployment, with dozens of states awarding contracts and the first NEVI-funded stations coming online in several regions. Tesla opened its Supercharger network to non-Tesla vehicles at thousands of locations. Electrify America has been upgrading existing sites with higher-power hardware. ChargePoint, EVgo, and a growing roster of smaller operators are all competing for both private investment and federal grant dollars.
SK Signet’s entry adds a hardware supplier with a specific advantage: a certified 400 kW product already being manufactured on U.S. soil. Most competing networks either build their own proprietary hardware (Tesla) or source from a mix of suppliers, many of whom top out at 350 kW for their highest-tier units. If SK Signet can deliver reliable 400 kW performance in the field, it could become a preferred supplier not just for Francis Energy but for other operators looking to differentiate on speed.
The certified hardware exists. The U.S. factory is named. A domestic network operator has committed, at least on paper, to buying at scale. What remains to be seen is whether that commitment translates into stations drivers can actually pull up to. As NEVI contracts continue rolling out and state project lists become public, the gap between announcement and asphalt will become clearer. For now, the building blocks for 400 kW public charging in America are in place. The construction phase is what comes next.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
