Tritium hopes to lead charge of EV brigade

SUPRATIM ADHIKARI
JANUARY 17, 2019
The Australian
The growing demand for energy driven by the uptake of electric vehicles could lead to greater ­unpredictability in electricity grids, with local e-mobility company Tritium saying charging your Tesla at home might not be the best option.
Instead, EV drivers could be better off with a petrol station-like model, with fast-charging technology allowing them to top up their batteries on the go, said Tritium co-founder and chief executive David Finn.
Mr Finn said the state of play in the Australian market posed a dangerous proposition for utilities, with sales of EVs “clustering” in certain suburbs, streets and ­locations.
“I have seen this clustering happen for myself when I was in California, where you get specific suburbs with lots of EVs on every street, and over time we are going to see this in Australia,” Mr Finn told The Australian. “This has the potential to overload local electricity infrastructure, especially the feeder lines (the poles and wires down a street).
“Owning an EV will increase a household’s electricity consumption by about 50 per cent (and) we think it’s better to get the cars to come to recharging hubs, use a convenience store model.”
Mr Finn cited a recent study carried out by LEK Consulting in conjunction with Tritium, which manufactures fast chargers.
With prices of EVs starting to come down and the number of models increasing, Brisbane-based Tritium is leading the charge to build the infrastructure that would allow the vehicles to ­become a viable option for everyday consumers.
Tritium was founded in 2001 after Paul Sernia, James Kennedy and Mr Finn met as students at the University of Queensland and were part of Team SunShark, which took third place at the 1999 World Solar Challenge. Since then Tritium has developed a 50kW DC charger that can ­deliver 50km of range for every 10 minutes of charging and a high-power charging system that can deliver 350km of range every 10 minutes.
The company has pushed its charging tech into Europe working with the IONITY network (a joint venture made up of BMW, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen), and in NSW and Queensland.
Mr Finn said electric vehicles would ­become more convenient than petrol and diesel cars but their increased adoption would require giving drivers more charging ­options.
“The carmakers are acutely aware of the need of having fast-charging capabilities, and we think we can get very close to replicating that petrol station experience where the charge times are very low,” he said. “Over time, these recharge stations could ­become real hubs of activities.”
Charging EVs while you are working or at home will still play a big role, but rolling out fast-charging solutions across multiple sites could play an important role in giving EV drivers a greater level of comfort about their batteries.
The International Energy Agency estimates the number of charging stations required will ­exceed 130 million units by 2030, which is close to 30 times the number now installed.
“The average time for a top-up on our 50kW charger, which we have been selling for about four years, is almost 15 minutes,” Mr Finn said.
However, the charge station model would only work if the number of EVs rose and drivers were confident enough to rely on a distributed charging infrastructure. Without big user numbers the cost of putting up infrastructure, especially the high-power chargers, could be prohibitive.
“To get return of investment you have certain costs that need to be covered and your revenue is based on utilisation,” Mr Finn said. “You have to cover the utility costs — there’s real estate and ­infrastructure costs — so you have to get utilisation rates high as quickly as ­possible. So you can imagine a time when a 7-Eleven or Coles Express may no longer have a petrol station but it will have a charge station.”
Energy companies will inevitably have to get involved to manage the higher unpredictability that comes with wider EV adoption and, according to Mr Finn, they have been pretty quiet on that front so far.
“To date a lot of the thinking has been on preventing stress on the grid and making sure there’s no overload because of EVs, which I think is a bit of a defensive thought process,” he said.
“What they should be doing is going on the offensive and look to work with other parties to start rolling out the public infrastructure and helping businesses that can get charging infrastructure off the ground.”