Tritium receives US funding to make ultra fast EV chargers smaller and cheaper

Brisbane-based developer and manufacturer of EV fast chargers, Tritium, is going to receive part of $US3.2 million in funding awarded to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) by the US government.

The allocation, which amounts to $US400,000, will be used to customise Tritium’s enterprise grade Veefil-PK ultra-fast charger to make it smaller, more efficient and cheaper to buy.

“This project lets us use our expertise in EV charging to build an advanced system that is easy to scale, repeat and manufacture,” Tritium’s engineering director and co-founder James Kennedy said in a statement.

“The solution the project team develops will result in a system with a smaller footprint, higher efficiency and lower cost of ownership.”

Tritium’s ultra-fast Veefil-PK units are already well on the way to reach a global audience, with up to 600 of the 475 kW chargers already being deployed to Germany as part of the IONITY network.

In Hungary, as many as 100 of the company’s Veefil-RT 50kW chargers are also being deployed.

The new funding will further expand Tritium’s reach, giving them access to the burgeoning US market, where EV sales are taking off, according to the latest sales reports.

Working with a number of other companies receiving the US federal government funding, Tritium will be an integral partner in the project to develop the high-powered charging system, providing input for the system’s design and testing phase.

Tritium is joined by power company Eaton Corp., the US government-run National Renewable Energy Laboratory and science and engineering research organisation Argonne National Laboratory, which operates out of the University of Chicago.

Worldwide, electrification of transport is taking off, with 1 million electric cars sold globally in just the first half of 2018, and there is no sign of that slowing down.

Tritium’s participation in the EPRI project will enable this shift to electric mobility to further accelerate, which EPRI hopes will also drive costs of electric chargers down – a fact that is not lost upon the U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

“Improving the affordability of transportation for American consumers and businesses keeps our economy moving,” he says, adding that such investment is about “ensuring America remains at the forefront of innovation”.

Locally, EV drivers can tap into Tritium’s 40 public Veefil-RT 50kW fast chargers throughout NSW and the ACT, being rolled out as part of NRMA’s DC charging network, and also along Queensland’s EV Electric Highway.