Charging ahead: From left, Jeroen Jonker, Tritium general manager of sales Europe; David Toomey, Tritium chief investment officer; Brett Mason, Australian ambassador to the Netherlands David Finn, Tritium co-founder and CEO.

THE Brisbane-based manufacturer of electric vehicle fast chargers, Tritium, is continuing its rapid global expansion, with the company opening its first European headquarters in Amsterdam.

Tritium already has a 20 per cent share of the fast-charger market in Europe and the company says it is establishing the office as a sales base, but it will also offer training, accreditation and engineering liaison for the customisation of chargers.

The new office follows the opening of a sales and manufacturing operation in Torrance, California in 2017. The US operation announced last week that it had secured a contract to supply 57 chargers for the Proterra electric bus company.

Tritium co-founder and chief executive officer David Finn said one key aspect of the Amsterdam office was its capability to offer “in confidence” testing for car-makers.

“As a privately-owned company with no strategic partnerships in the automotive sector, Tritium is able to offer comprehensive and confidential testing facilities for any automotive vehicles,” he said at the launch.

“The opening of this facility represents a major investment and commitment to the European market, and it is in direct response to increased demand for our products and services from this region.

“In just a few years, Tritium has made an impact in the fast-charging sector and we needed to have a local presence operational in Europe ahead of a very active year, when we will be launching a number of new initiatives.”

In December, Belgium opened its leg of a pan-European electric highway from Dublin to Genoa featuring 25 Tritium chargers across the country.

Dr Finn said Tritium had taken 20 per cent of the European fast-charger market since it released its Veefil 50kW DC range in 2013. It has supplied more than 50 per cent of the fast chargers installed in Norway, where almost one third of all new vehicles are battery electric or plug-in hybrids.

The company is also focusing on building sales in Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Scandinavia.

“Europe offers enormous potential for Tritium and the market is extremely exciting for us. Thus far, we have been very successful in deploying charging infrastructure in the utilities and network sector and partnering with leading CPOs (charge-point operators) and back-end providers.

“The recent surge in new EV model launches in Europe has sparked increased interest in our Veefil range of 50kW fast chargers and ultra-fast chargers (150-475kW), for both urban and corridor charging. Tritium is working closely with leading companies in the European automotive and petrol retail industry, in order to provide the best suited and most efficient fast-charging solution in the market.”

Tritium’s fast chargers gain a competitive edge thanks to a radical approach to the transformer intrinsic in any fast charger. Tritium chose to use liquid to cool the transformer, incorporating very efficient radiators made by another Brisbane company, PWR, which also supplied radiators to racing teams in Formula One and other high-profile series.

The liquid cooling means the transformer can be 50 per cent lighter than other chargers, making it easier to install as it does not require reinforced foundations. It is also smaller than other chargers and can be fitted into a regular parking space.

By Ian Porter