NKM Mobilitas Ltd. is a subsidiary of National Utilities, the state Hungarian utilities provider which supplies gas and electricity to 4.2 million households in Hungary. The fast chargers are part of a larger roll-out of NKM’s new electric car charging network across Hungary. By the end of 2018, it plans to install 100 e-chargers, under the name of Mobiliti, across the country, in cooperation with local government and municipalities.
Although the EV market in Hungary is currently small, accounting for approximately 6,000 of the 3.8 million cars on the country’s roads, it is growing rapidly, with EV sales representing 5.1 percent of all new car sales in Q1 2018. Owners of electric cars are supported by generous subsidiaries and incentives from the Hungarian Government, including grants of up to 5,000 euros, free car registration and reduced or free parking.
“We want to establish a network covering the whole country” said Szabolsc Balogh, Managing Director NKM Mobilitas Ltd. “Although today, it is mainly companies that are buying electric cars, 80-85 percent of the charging takes place in homes or underground parking garages. Only approximately five percent of charging points are located on autoroutes or motorways with the rest in public areas. The Tritium fast chargers are strategically vital to our charging network vision. The Tritium chargers are around 25 times faster than home chargers. They were also recommended by Fortum Charge & Drive, whose software underpins our charging network. We were impressed with the Veefil-RT’s small footprint and light weight – it only weighs about 170kg compared to up to 600kg for other 50kW fast-chargers. Additionally, the use of liquid cooling technology will reduce future maintenance requirements. There is no need for regular filter replacement as is common with air cooled fast chargers.”
Jeroen Jonker, General Manager Sales Europe at Tritium, added that while all charging options are needed, fast charging corridors are essential for the EV market to really take off.
NKM Mobilitas Ltd. turned to Tritium for chargers for fast charging along the main traffic routes. Their first orders – a total of 12 Veefil-RT 50kW DC fast chargers – were placed in Q2 2018. These fast chargers will be installed in strategic locations across Hungary in the second half of 2018.
Mobiliti is also looking into charging solutions for B2B customers, including retail networks, shopping centres, bank offices delivery businesses and transporters.
Tritium recently announced the opening of its European headquarters service centre and assembly operation in Amsterdam to support its growing European customer base. The new European headquarters will bring service, support, sales, training, and manufacturing of its EV fast-charging solutions closer to European customers.
Additionally, the new Dutch office houses a state-of-the-art training and accreditation unit for technical servicing and customer support, which includes comprehensive and confidential testing facilities open to all European car manufacturers.
Image: From left to right: Tamas Binder (IT Operations Leader), Jeroen Jonker (General Manager Sales Europe Tritium), Szabolcs Balogh (Managing Director NKM Mobiliti), Manuel Fernandes (General Manager Operations Europe, Business Development Tritium) – Image courtesy of Tritium.
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