Australian EV charging infrastructure provider Tritium is expanding its footprint in California, the centre of electric vehicle ownership in the US, with a new retail project in Orange County.
California accounts for approximately half of all the nearly 1.5 million electric vehicle registrations in the US according to EV lobby group Veloz, making it an obvious opportunity for Tritium to claim a leading position in the charging market.
The new retail partnership with US EV charging installer evGateway will be operated by EVForce at Orange Country’s Buena Park and will see four of Tritium’s 50kW RT50 fast chargers installed on site.
The new project follows another recent installation announced in May at what is understood to be the largest such site in the US, in Pasadena, California.
“There’s nearly 1.5 million EVs in the United States, and with less than 75,000 public charging outlets across the country, the demand for publicly accessible charging continues to dramatically increase,” said Mike Calise, Tritium’s president of the Americas in a statement.
“True energy freedom can only be realized when drivers don’t have to think about where to charge. The availability of DC fast charging must be virtually everywhere that drivers spend time,” he said.
While shopping centres are most often thought of as an ideal location for AC chargers at which an EV would spend anywhere from 1-4 hours charging, Calise says that the placement of 50kW DC fast chargers (at which an EV might spend up to an hour charging) is also important in destinations such as retail.
“This deployment is an example of ‘DC Everywhere’ as DC is not just relegated to corridor charging between major cities,” says Calise.
“The EVForce deployment allows drivers to think differently about DC fast charging in what would typically be an AC area. This is one of the most beautiful installations and that’s really inviting drivers to stop, charge and shop in a cool and functional location.”
To ensure a smooth operating experience for users of the charging site, EVForce will have access to Tritium’s utility management software, while Tritium says its chargers’ liquid-cooled cables give users more uptime due to less wear and tear.
“Growing DC fast charging locations in urban areas is an important step in furthering EV adoption. Our EV charging station management network helps bridge the gap between drivers and charging station installations,” said Reddy Marri, president for EvGateway.
“Tritium’s stellar customer support team works alongside our site manager to track data in real-time and observe charging trends to identify future improvements. It is important for us to have customer support 24/7 and a system that is cost-effective to upgrade, which is what we get with our partnership with Tritium.”
The Tritium/evGateway partnership will also see future sites pop up, as the two companies work towards building a network of DC fast chargers in California and beyond.
Tritium’s increasing footprint in the US is cemented by a recent $A45 million injection from investment arm of US healthcare giant Cigna, which says it is on the look out for opportunities in the renewables sector.
To date, Tritium has installed 4,500 charging stations in more than 33 countries worldwide, delivering 7.6gWh of energy to electric vehicles over 600,000 charging sessions.
It now holds 50% of the DC fast charging market in Norway, which has more than 300,000 electric vehicles according to Elbilstatistikk, and in Western countries holds between 15 and 20 per cent of the wider western global market for DC fast chargers.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model 3 and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.