Tritium opens new facility in Los Angeles

Tritium, a world leader in electric vehicle (EV) DC fast-and high-power charging technology, has opened the doors of a new facility in Los Angeles which will enable the company to increase production to cater for a growing sales pipeline in the Americas region.

The Tritium E-Mobility Innovation Centre in Los Angeles will feature a testing facility to allow automotive manufacturers in the US to test vehicles for DC charger interoperability with the suite of advanced Tritium DC chargers. It will also provide expanded manufacturing and logistics capabilities for Tritium, along with a customer-focused Research and Development (R&D) facility to enable the company to create customised solutions to meet unique customer requests.

In addition, the company has launched the RT175s DC High Power Charger (HPC), which was designed specifically for the United States market. The RT175s will be available from Q4 this year and will provide the most flexible and lowest-cost installation of a charger in its class.

“We outgrew our previous facility in Torrance faster than we ever expected, which is a testament not only to the team we have and the technology we can produce, but also to the growing demand for electric vehicle infrastructure in the United States and in particular California,” said Jeff Wolfe, President, Americas, Tritium. “We are seeing greatly increased product demand, both with our award-winning Veefil-RT50 product and with the upcoming US availability of our RT175s DC HPCs towards the end of the year. Following a number of significant wins in recent months, our new facility will allow us to provide customers with unequalled logistics capabilities, uniquely-tailored solutions and local production.”

The RT175s, ideal for urban areas and vertical industry deployments, is based on the world-leading Veefil-PK concept currently being installed across Europe with the IONITY network, the fastest and largest network of its kind in the world and a joint venture of the BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and the Volkswagen Group including Audi and Porsche.

At 175kW, the RT175s can add 110 miles of range to an electric vehicle in just 10 minutes. Tritium's flexible design and architecture approach ensures the chargers can be delivered at scale and low cost, and to suit the aesthetic requirements of the surrounding area.

“The market has determined what level of charge power it requires at the high-end of charging in the United States, and the answer is 175kW. There are almost no vehicles on the market that can charge beyond that range at this time,” said Wolfe. “We're providing what the market wants, while ensuring our customers can deploy these chargers both at scale and cost-effectively. With the proliferation of 50kW DC Fast Chargers, drivers will have all the choice in charge speed they require for the foreseeable future. The RT175s can be deployed anywhere and we see it being ideally suited to urban areas and within industries requiring tailored solutions, such as ports, fleets and any industry looking to electrify its automotive operations.”