Australia’s Tritium has installed its first RTM75 high-speed electric car charger, as part of a plan to roll out a series of 75kW charging stations on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
First unveiled in November, the RTM75 charging unit is Tritium’s answer to requests from customers for a scalable and upgradeable charging system.
Electric cars can use RTM75 75kW charging units to add up to 75km driving range in as little as 10 minutes.
The first Gold Coast installation at Broadbeach this week is the first of 10 chargers that will be installed within a 50km radius, made possible by the $350,000 funding from the state’s Covid Works program in collaboration with the City of Gold Coast.
Other locations designated for the rollout include Coolangatta, Southport, Pimpama, Carrara, Bundall and Nerang.
Once complete, the rollout will make the Gold Coast one of the most EV-friendly centres in Australia.
And, as the number of electric vehicles on Gold Coast roads increase, the chargers can be upgraded to accommodate more demand for charging.
City of Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate said via a statement on the city’s website that the rollout signals “an innovative destination, committed to a greener future.”
“As the transition to electric vehicles begins to pick up pace, we have secured the most advanced DC fast chargers on the market,’’ he said.
“The power used to charge vehicles at these stations will be offset by power generated by the City’s Virtual Power Plant, which harnesses solar energy from more than 47 City buildings.
“These new charging stations also complement the Palaszczuk Government’s Electric Super Highway and provide further reassurance for EV drivers,” Queensland deputy premier and minister for state development, infrastructure, local government and planning Steven Miles said in a statement.
“Having charging stations along the Gold Coast not only incentivises future EV users, but it also encourages driving tourism along a beautiful stretch of the Coast.”
#GoldCoastNews World-first electric vehicle (EV) charging technology has debuted on the Gold Coast, with the first charger installed at Broadbeach today. https://t.co/kUWHhdLTQV pic.twitter.com/BoJP0roucs
— City of Gold Coast (@cityofgoldcoast) January 19, 2021
While the RTM75 charger is not the fastest DC charger around (both St Baker Energy Innovation Fund-backed Tritium and Swedish-Swiss automation and electrification conglomerate ABB have 350kW chargers installed at locations in Australia), it is the first scalable charging solution in the world, according to the company.
“We listened to customers across the globe, and the RTM75 is the result of those conversations,” said Jane Hunter, CEO of Tritium in a statement.
“These chargers, assembled in Tritium’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Brisbane, can be installed quickly, are upgradeable and have the narrowest profile on the market, making them suitable to be installed anywhere, from retail carparks to dense urban environments.”
As with Tritium’s other charging solutions, the RTM75 supports both the CCS and CHAdeMO plug standards and can charge vehicles that have batteries up to 920 volts.
They can also utilise Tritium’s “Plug and Charge” (ISO 15118) technology that uses RFID authentication to eliminate the need for charge cards and smartphone apps – the charger simply recognises the vehicle and charges the cost of recharging it to the owner’s account.
“The RTM75 is the first product on Tritium’s new Modular Scalable Charging (MSC) hardware platform which provides the next level of flexibility, capital efficiency and scalability, while maintaining the attractive, compact and low maintenance design attributes Tritium products have become known for,” said Dr David Finn, chief growth officer and founder of Tritium in a statement.
“The electrification of transportation is at tipping point, so our customers want to know how they can easily extend their charging site capacity over the coming years. They want no regrets and capital efficient scaling of their charging sites. Tritium’s MSC hardware platform allows our customers to scale their charging sites for half the price and configure their charging sites for a desired reliability.”
In July 2020 the City of Gold Coast announced it had introduced six new all-electric vehicles to its fleet.
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 Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.