Transgrid installs first “Supernova” EV fast charger next to Wallgrove battery

NSW-based transmission company Transgrid is installing the first “next generation” EV fast charger to be made by Spanish company Wallbox as part of its program to transition its fleet of vehicles to electric, including its first electric ute.

The Wallbox 60kW Supernova DC fast chargers will be the first to be installed in Australia, and will be located near  Transgrid’s Wallgrove big battery in western Sydney.

The 60kW charger has facilities for both CCS and Chademo charging, but future installations will have CCS only, with the ability to charge one EV at the rate of 60kW or two EVs at the same time at 30kW each. There will also be 150kW chargers with six 30kW modules that allow one EV to be charged at 150kW, and two EVs at 90kW each.

“The fast-charger we have installed at our Wallgrove site can be expanded and upgraded and (will) allow us to charge two vehicles at once,” said Ryan Thomas, fleet manager at Transgrid.

“In the future it will also give us the option to upgrade to ultra-rapid charging which allows some EVS to be charged from 20% to 80% battery capacity in just 15 minutes.”

Transgrid currently operates a fleet of 400 utility vehicles and, as part of its larger goal of becoming net zero by 2040, will work to eliminate all emissions from its fleet of passenger and commercial vehicles by 2030.

Thomas says the company has already transitioned more than half its passenger fleet to electric or hybrid vehicles, and will soon receive its first electric ute, one of the newly launched LDV eT60.

Transgrid says the Supernova chargers are half the investment cost of similar chargers, and are easily installed and integrated into any existing charging network.