“Charging Europe” – Philipp Oppolzer from Kempower

When looking at HPC networks in Europe, one obviously has to also speak to a charging station manufacturer. In this case, Philipp Oppolzer, Business Development Director for Central Europe at Kempower, had a chance to present during our oline conference electrive LIVE. Oppolzer welcomed one important aspect of AFIR – the distance between charging stations along major highways in the European Union.

The regulation says that electric cars will need to be able to charge every 60 kilometres along the main routes in the European Union by 2026. For trucks, charging stations must be available every 120 kilometres along major highways (TEN-T). For a manufacturer, that is obviously good news.

Oppolzer also took the time to explain Kempower’s charging solution concept. It consists of a central unit and so-called ‘satellites’, or charge points that share the available power. “The central power unit can then distribute the installed power to up to eight simultaneously usable charge points,” said the Kempower manager. “It gives the operator maximum flexibility on how to design the site and makes it as user friendly as possible by not putting big chunky charges right where the space is needed most – directly around the vehicle.”

The power units provide up to 600 kW and distribute energy to the charge points in 25 kW increments. Moreover, this set-up is already MCS-ready. Two power units can be joined together, providing up to 1.2 MW – making it easier to also accommodate electric trucks. “You just need to make sure that the overall power available on site is sufficient for the use case. It lowers the initial investment, and you tend to get a significantly higher return on your investment.”

The manufacturer is based in Finland and operates the manufacturing sites there, as well as a fourth one in North America. Oppolzer pointed out that Kempower only produces charging stations once they have been ordered, and can hand them over to customers a few weeks after the order was placed. So far, the company has produced around 20,000 DC chargers, and Oppolzer said that Kempower could ramp up production on short notice if demand for its chargers increases.