Balancing act: How Australia’s eBus charging network reached industrial scale in just a matter of years
For Kempower, it’s a case of 600 plugs and counting in Australia. The global charging solutions provider discusses how Australia’s electric bus charging network has reached industrial scale in just a matter of years.
How much have you done in a decade? Has the family evolved before your very eyes? Friendships flourished or floundered? It was just under a decade ago that parent group Kemppi built on more than 70 years of business by branching out as Kempower into vehicle electrification technology. In the nine years since the Finnish DC charger producer for electric vehicles was founded, it’s fast become a central player in Oceania’s bus and coach electrification journey.
The proof is in the building – after arriving in the region in 2022 when Australia’s bus electrification process was still in its early stages, it has now installed more than 600 plugs. This pivotal role in ensuring the nation’s electric bus charging network has reached industrial scale is a far cry from its local foundations.
“Back in 2022, most projects were pilotprograms and large-scale electric depots were largely untested,” Kempower Business Development Manager APAC Dylan Perera said.
“Australia presented unique challenges compared to Europe, such as grid, heat and distances. These have all been challenges we’ve had to work through.”With a growing local team looking after sales, solutions, service and marketing in Australia, Kempower has been able to provide solutions for a range of obstacles in just a few years.
By 2023, Kempower’s product capabilities saw it selected to provide charging solutions for a large bus depot in Perth. Western Australia continued to emerge as an eager market, with Kempower and its local partners working together to supply the DC fast charging system for the state’s largest electric bus depot in Malaga – a 110-bus project requiring installation without disrupting operations.
Last year, this was extended to the several other bus depots for electrification in Perth as well, with Kempower teaming up with partners to provide electric charging capacity for several hundred buses. Further large-scale bus projects have been appointed with Kempower’s hardware in NSW, SA and VIC.
As time has continued to pass and show Kempower’s capabilities, the brand has been central in the local industry working through grid constraints, Australia’s unique climate conditions and the nature of depot operations to successfully complete large-scaleprojects.
Maintaining and supporting electric vehicle charging solutions here in Australia means working around real grid constraints and challenging climate conditions. It takes a lot of forward planning and attention to detail, with a strong emphasis on planned service and maintenance, backed by a network of supportive service partners”, says Benjamin Clements, Kempower Service Manager for APAC.
“We’ve been able to do this while establishing a local team, starting with our Melbourne office that opened in 2023,” Kempower Director of New Markets Carlo Cecchi says.
This collection of knowledge has allowed Kempower to offer solution engineering support and ongoing technical expertise when it comes to local project deliveries. Through its service team’s capabilities, Kempower also offers ongoing customer support to ensure the electrification process across the industry is constant and efficient.
“Our aim is to understand the use case of our customers first and then match them to our products,” Kempower Sales Application Engineer, Peter Edmonds says.
“It’s been wonderful to grow the Australian business through a team of experts in the field.”
These people are behind the projects that form Kempower’s backbone in the Australian bus and coach industry. Supporting this group is rich experience from the brand’s European origins, with the Finnish business leveraging the region’s earlier adoption of zero-emissions vehicle and charging technology to then apply to the Australian market.
European electric bus markets were one of the first to develop globally, with 5MW bus stations already being in place since 2022. This has allowed Kempower to transfer these lessons and experience to Australian operators, acting as a bridge of information to allow local businesses to benefit by using proven approaches.
Central to this growth in Australia in such a short period of time is Kempower’s willingness to partner with local brands. Kempower ANZ Partner Manager, Rebecca Prins, is quick to admit Kempower didn’t arrive at this point by itself, with various partners, such as JET Charge and Charge Hub, helping the European brand fulfil requirements on major depot projects in Australia.
“Success depends on collaboration, and local delivery partners have been essential,” she says.
“We’ve been fortunate to work with some wonderful partners to achieve success on some large depot electrification projects in recent years.”
The numbers speak for themselves – since 2022, Kempower has received firm orders for more than 600 plugs at 11 electric bus depots across the country, with a large portion of this now being installed in the country, from Western Australia and South Australia to depots in New South Wales and Victoria. These all haven’t been done by providing DC Power Units to just a couple of larger depots – there are several ongoing projects with operators across different states that have allowed Kempower to quickly enhance its local knowledge and expertise.
“These figures demonstrate how rapidly both the market and charging infrastructure in the market have grown,” Cecchi says.
“Whether it be pantographs or other charging plugs, Kempower is providing a range of options for local operators.”
In the space of nearly four years, Kempower has been witness to the Australian electric bus market’s rapid evolution from pilots to large-scale projects. While playing a major role in growing fleet sizes through larger charging installations, Kempower has also been able to manage increasing power requirements and more complex depot operations, all while juggling local growth and international experience. It’s a fine balancing act, and one that’s creating long-term infrastructure certainty and operational reliability for the latest generation of Australian bus and coach operators.
“As Australian operators continue transitioning towards zero-emission fleets, the next challenge will be scaling infrastructure to meet future demand,” Perera says.
“We can’t wait to see what’s next in this journey and continue helping the industry with our ever-growing knowledge and expertise.”
Written by:
Australasian Bus and Coach: Editor, Sean Mortell
Anniina Ruhberg
Marketing Communications Manager, New Markets, Kempower
+61 434 092 987
anniina.ruhberg@kempower.com