Superstore chain E-Mart opened 80 charging stations for electric vehicles in its stores nationwide on Thursday.

Commissioned by BMW Korea, who teamed up with Korea's largest steelmaker POSCO, in a bid to boost sales of electric vehicles, the charging stations will allow users to recharge all electric vehicles available in Korea such as BMW i3, Kia Ray and Soul, and Renault Samsung SM3.

Some 54 charging stations are located in Seoul and the surrounding areas.

Anyone can recharge their cars for free during the trial-run until mid-October when a membership will be required for use.

"It takes around three hours to fully recharge a vehicle, so users can conveniently recharge their cars while shopping," a spokesman for POSCO said.

E-Mart expects that it will attract more shoppers with the addition of the charging stations

There are around 3,000 electric vehicles in Korea and some 80 charging stations, mostly in Seoul and Jeju.