Photo: Kempower
Finnish DC fast-charging solutions provider Kempower has joined forces with Croatia’s power engineering, rail solutions and digital platforms specialist, Končar, to accelerate the rollout of charging of electric vehicles across Central and South Eastern Europe including the Western Balkans.
The two companies have signed a sales and service partnership agreement which will see Končar procuring, distributing and installing Kempower’s direct current (DC) charging equipment for customers including charge point operators, public transport operators, port authorities and municipalities, Kempower said.
According to the Finnish company, the collaboration could expand and serve as a strategic partnership to boost Central and South Eastern Europe’s DC charging markets.
The partnership seeks to drive charging infrastructure forward in Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo*, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a region which has been slower to adopt EVs than much of the rest of Europe, the update reads.
One of the initial projects would be a charging station with a total power of 1,200 kW in the Kvarner region of Croatia
While Slovenia and Croatia had networks of around 1,500 and 900 public e-chargers, respectively, in 2023, the other five countries in the region collectively have 300 between them. By comparison, the Netherlands is in the lead in the European Union with 75,000 charging stations. Similarly, the region’s EV market share of between 1% and 4% has yet to catch up with the EU’s 2022 average of 13.9%.
Kempower announced that one of the initial projects of the partnership would be a charging station with a total power of 1,200kW, in the Kvarner region of Croatia. The site would be part of a new service station being built this year at the east end of the Učka Tunnel. It has been supplied with two 600 kW Kempower Power Units, with Končar delivering the necessary infrastructure.
The station will be equipped with eight Kempower Charging Satellites, suitable for most EVs, and a further two Kempower Liquid Cooled Charging Satellites, which facilitate faster charging for heavy commercial vehicles like trucks.
Dusper: E-mobility is a fast-growing industry with huge potential
The modular design of Kempower’s DC fast-charging solutions allows operators to start small and expand their systems by adding more charging equipment as demand grows, meaning a lower initial investment doesn’t inhibit future business development, according to the announcement.
“By joining forces with Končar, we expect to make a meaningful and lasting contribution to charging infrastructure across the region,” said Kempower’s Head of Business Development for Central and South Eastern Europe Igor Ban.
According to Nina Dusper, Končar’s Executive Director for Urban Mobility and Infrastructure, e-mobility is a fast-growing industry with huge potential.
“Quality and reliability will play an important role in a successful EV infrastructure rollout and the high uptime, modularity and dynamic power sharing elements of the Kempower charging solutions put us in strong stead to make a significant impact,” Dusper noted.
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