Plugged In With Tritium: Sustainable Charging With Enel X Way

With Alan Dowdell, Head of Sales and Marketing, Enel X Way

Tritium and Enel X Way partnered to pursue a shared vision: to electrify transpiration and help enable renewable energy. Enel X Way provides EV charging at home and on the go, deploying Tritium chargers for EV drivers on the go. 

About Enel X Way

Enel X Way is a subsidiary of Fortune 200 renewable energy leader the Enel Group and is dedicated to electric mobility. The company is driven by innovation and electrification to meet sustainability goals with their smart home, commercial, and public charging solutions. Enel X Way operates in 16 countries and manages more than 500,000 charge ports globally and more than 193,000 in North America. 

Enel X Way’s award-winning home charging station, the JuiceBox, has been named the “best EV charger overall” by CNET, Car and Driver, Popular Mechanics, and Road & Track. 

How does fast charging fit into the Enel X Way ecosystem?

Fast charging is an essential piece of Enel X Way’s charging solutions portfolio. Alongside Level 2 charging for home or commercial use, accessible and reliable DC fast charging is needed for those unable to charge at home or who that require charging capabilities that gets them on the road sooner. Enel X Way’s comprehensive lineup of Tritium JuicePump DC fast chargers can charge EVs up to 80% in less than 20 minutes. It’s the perfect solution for fleet depots, shopping centers, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores. 

Why is fast charging important to your renewable energy goals?

The United States White House Administration has set targets of having 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030 and is on track to install around 200,000 DC fast chargers by 2030. By deploying public and private DC fast chargers nationwide, we will support rapidly growing EV adoption. By 2025, the Enel Group will invest $22.8 billion in renewables. As a core region within the Enel Group, North America has pledged to meet ambitious goals including 475,000 EV charge ports, 5 GW of new utility-scale renewable and storage capacity, 37 MW in demand response capacity, and 155 MW of distributed energy storage capacity. 

Tell me how renewable energy can work with fast charging.

An integrated solar, storage, and EV charging solution is critical for reducing stress on electrical grids during peak hours and preventing blackouts. Renewable energy from solar panels and wind farms can generate clean energy to power EV charging stations during the day, minimizing electricity drawn from the grid. Storage can then hold excess solar or wind energy and deploy it at night or when grid demand is high.  

Why is it important to drive electric?

The case for driving electric is undeniable. Transportation accounts for 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., causing the Earth to warm at an ever-increasing pace. EVs provide zero emission transportation while decreasing dependence on fossil fuels and improving air quality in communities around the world. 

Driving EVs also helps owners save money through incentives, rebates and tax credits that lower the cost of purchasing an EV and home charging station. Not to mention the perks of driving an EV, including access to HOV carpool lanes, reduced tolls, free public charging in select areas, and less vehicle maintenance. 

What are the biggest challenges you face in fast charging?

Expanding access to DC fast charging comes with some challenges, such as determining where to install the stations. DC fast chargers must be placed in locations that are highly visited by EV drivers close to highways, shopping centers or other public locations that have ample parking space, amenities to use while charging, and adequate power supply. Stations must also be able to scale with increased demand for electric vehicles while meeting complex charging protocols that continually evolve. For this reason, Enel X Way and Tritium provide modular kW configurations that grow with your business needs. User experience is also critical. DCFC must be easy to find and use, and they need to be reliable with ample uptime. 

How is Tritium helping you overcome those challenges and what is your experience working with Tritium?

Tritium has been an excellent DC fast charging partner that will help us meet increasing demand for fast charging and achieve our mutual goal of electrifying transportation. Pairing Tritium’s DC fast charging technology with Enel X Way’s smart charging platform delivers fast, flexible, and scalable charging solutions for our customers. 

How are Tritium solutions helping to evolve your business?

Enel X Way has historically been a leader in Level 2 charging for home and commercial applications. The addition of DC fast charging to our portfolio from Tritium has expanded the solutions we can offer to our customers while ensuring charger availability and reliability. Working with Tritium provides Enel X Way with the highest quality manufacturing, best practices for hardware installation, remote monitoring capabilities, and maintenance support.