Tritium technician flying in following charger explosion

DC fast charger manufacturer Tritium is flying a technician into New Zealand to investigate an explosion in one of its units this afternoon.

The explosion at the Amberley site owned and operated by ChargeNet caused damage to the vehicle that was plugged in, but no one was injured.

ChargeNet chief executive Steve West told EVtalk tonight the NZ Fire and Emergency attended the scene, wrapped the unit and will be returning to investigate further tomorrow.

He noted Energy Safety will also be conducting an investigation, likely Monday.

West says it is too early to understand what has gone wrong.

“But the nature of the incident implicates a few specific components,” he says. Tritium are flying a technician in tomorrow (Saturday).”

“Out of an abundance of caution they have advised us to take a selection of their chargers offline until they can verify that they are totally safe,” West says.

Those two chargers are Nelson and Auckland’s Beach Road, both of which have nearby alternatives.

West asserts the rest of the Tritium units ChargeNet has in the field are safe.

“Based on all the information we have, yes.”