ABB starts US$30m EV charger facility

ABB has begun construction of a US$30 million facility in San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy, which will serve as a global Centre of Excellence and production site for EV charging infrastructure.

The 1.6-hectare facility should be operational by the end of 2021.

It follows a US$10m investment in a new fully sustainable, global e-mobility headquarters and research and development (R&D) centre built on the TU Delft Campus, Heertjeslaan, Netherlands, set to officially launch later this year.

The new Italian plant will produce ABB’s entire portfolio of direct current (DC) EV battery chargers, from domestic systems to those for installation in public areas and others dedicated to urban public transport.

The construction start represents a significant milestone in ABB’s e-mobility business, ABB Smart Power Division head Giampiero Frisio says.

“At ABB we have been driving progress in the sector for more than a decade and this new state of the art facility will contribute significantly to further advancing the global move towards zero-emission electric mobility.”

The new facility will be characterised by the integration of ABB Ability digital solutions. They will allow complete visibility and optimisation of the production of every individual product and interconnect automated warehouse management systems with factory departments.

Automated equipment for the assembly of printed circuit boards and monitoring and testing systems will be connected to the factory information system.

R&D activities will be in a dedicated 3200 square metre space for development and prototyping. They will focus on the implementation of innovative solutions, new software and product life cycle management tools to fully integrate R&D activities with manufacturing activities, both internally and with external electronic manufacturing services, ABB says.

Meanwhile, the integration of renewable energy sources such as roof solar panels, an optimised heating and cooling system and the introduction of an electric fleet of vehicles for employees, logistics, sales and service teams will help to reduce the facility’s environmental impact.

“As global demand for sustainable transport continues to increase, this new facility will ensure that ABB can meet that demand and remains the go to provider for our end-to-end e-mobility solutions,” ABB E-mobility Infrastructure Solutions global business head Frank Muehlon says.

ABB has sold more than 14,000 DC fast chargers across at least 80 countries and recently received the Global E-mobility Leader 2019 award.

It will provide the charging technology for the Gen 3 cars in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.