Aussie EV fast-chargers for UK

An Australia manufacturer has been contracted to supply a new British electric vehicle (EV) fast-charger network that will be one of the largest in the world once completed in 2025.

Brisbane-based Tritium will supply 50kW DC fast-chargers to 2500 sites for the new Drive Energi network, with up to two chargers on each site.

This is the latest in a series of big export wins for Tritium, which has fast chargers installed in 29 countries and currently holds around 15 per cent of the global 50kW fast-charger market.

It has 50 per cent of the 50kW DC fast-charger market in Norway, which is acknowledged as a world leader in the switch to EVs, and supplies chargers to the pan-European Ionity network.

While focussed on the UK for now, Drive Energi says it has plans to expand in the future into Australia, mainland Europe and Canada.

“We chose to work with Tritium because its technology is proven and its chargers are reliable, robust and trustworthy,” said James Moat, CEO of Drive Energi.

“These chargers are not only the fastest and most advanced in their class, but incredibly easy to use and, with the world’s smallest physical footprint, to deploy as well – particularly in our cities and high-density areas where space is increasingly limited.”

Each site will feature up to two Tritium Veefil-RT 50kW DC Rapid Chargers – capable of adding 100km of range in 20 minutes of charging – along with a number of lower-power AC chargers.

By comparison, a 7kW charger – typically found in a home or some publicly-available sites in the UK – can add about 14km or just over nine miles every 20 minutes.

Drive Energi sites will supply 100 per cent renewable energy.