Charging Ahead - How DLL and Kempower Are Powering Australia's Electric Vehicle Transition

When global vendor finance leader DLL joined forces with Finnish EV charging manufacturer Kempower, it kickstarted a new way for Australian fleets to approach electrification. 

By combining world-class charging technology with smart, flexible financing, DLL and Kempower are helping local operators overcome one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption: cost. 

Switching to electric vehicles is a major shift for heavy vehicle fleets in Australia, where long distances and challenging conditions require tailored solutions. While local expertise is often seen as essential, the partnership between global brands DLL and Kempower shows international companies can also meet these demands. DLL and Kempower have joined forces to support fleet decarbonisation, with their collaboration starting to make an impact.

Where Tech Meets Finance

“In 2024, DLL’s Global Energy Transition Team met with Kempower to discuss their business strategy, key sectors, and customer needs”, DLL New Business Development Manager Energy Transition, Sam Sawant told ATN.  

“We quickly saw how strategic financing could enable Kempower’s customer adoption by reducing upfront cost barriers”, Sawant added.  

The collaboration brings together two crucial parts of the electric vehicle transition. Kempower provides cutting-edge heavy vehicle charging technology, while DLL plays a vital part in financing the necessary charging infrastructure. 

Kempower’s strength lies in its scalable DC fast charging solutions, engineered for demanding environments and built to serve complex, high-utilisation fleets. The modular design of Kempower’s systems allows them to grow with the operator’s needs - whether it’s for a single depot or a nationwide network. 

Their chargers are also known for their user-friendly interfaces, dynamic load management, and intelligent backend software, which provides real-time insights, remote diagnostics, and data-driven performance monitoring. 

These solutions are already used across logistics, public transport, retail fuelling sites, and heavy-duty trucking - both in urban settings and more remote, hard-to-decarbonise industries such as mining, forestry, and freight. 

“Our product line is built for fleets - we don’t do cookie-cutter solutions,” says Rebecca Prins, Partner Manager at Kempower. “We take site constraints, vehicle types, and operational needs into account from day one.” 

Meanwhile DLL saw how strategic financing could enable Kempower’s customer adoption by reducing upfront cost barriers. 

“Financing is no longer a nice-to-have - it’s essential,” Prins continues. “Especially in markets like Australia, where upfront infrastructure costs are still a major barrier.” 

With DLL, Kempower customers can now access tailored leasing or loan solutions, often with no upfront payment required. These flexible financing solutions allow fleet operators to obtain the charging solutions without committing to a large upfront cash outlay. These financial packages not only include the charging hardware, but also soft costs like installation, commissioning, and software. In addition, DLL can help bundle the financing with the purchase of the electric vehicles they choose for the project. 

This can enable operators to spread costs over time, preserve capital, and maintain better cash flow - all while starting their transition immediately. 

Market Movers

Kempower has been a DC charging OEM since 2018. Its history of manufacturing chargers recently translated into a specialisation in DC charging for heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses. These solutions have been introduced to Australia and New Zealand and had quick adoption by logistics operators and transit networks. 

“We’ve taken learnings from Europe and other markets and adapted this to meet local requirements and customer needs,” Prins says. As Kempower continues to emerge as a leading charging manufacturer, its recent partnership with DLL has catapulted both businesses to be front of mind for many fleet operators across the country.  

“DLL has been providing flexible financing solutions for businesses for over 20 years in ANZ. With a dedicated team of energy transition specialists that leverage our global reach and have deep local market knowledge, this partnership will provide Kempower’s customers access to flexible financing solutions so they can obtain the charging infrastructure they need to be successful,” says Sawant.

Breaking Down Adoption Barriers

Without funding from government bodies to subsidise part of the transition cost, many truck or bus fleet operators may not have the capital to complete such major projects.  

“One of the main benefits to operators is that a finance solution can help conserve their capital and allows for better cash flow, as they are spreading the capital outlay over a longer term to allow for other critical business investment in the short term. Ultimately, we are helping reduce the barriers to adoption” Sawant says. 

While this approach is recent in Australia, both DLL and Kempower have already completed several projects in Europe which highlight the importance of a collaborative approach. One project was for a large fuel retailer which conveniently located the charging infrastructure within their existing fuel station near a fast-food store, allowing for customer flexibility and convenience. Another project was for a truck company, where Kempower provided a comprehensive electric vehicle charging solution, combined with DLL’s financing, that tailored to the fleet operator’s needs.  

“We want to leverage this partnership so DLL can help more fleet operators dip their toes in the electrification space by providing finance for the hardware and vehicles,” Kempower Fleets business development manager ANZ, Dylan Perera, told ATN.

Accelerating Fleet Transformation

“Kempower’s philosophy is to provide charging in a better way – when it comes to fleet, we think these operators become the most important sector in the EV transition,” Perera says.  

“We see this sector growing locally, so recent announcements of OEMs Foton & Volvo building electric trucks locally is a clear sign that large industry players are taking this seriously. As more electric vehicles become available, and existing fleets progressively hit their renewal points, increasingly customers will be asking if they can get more efficiencies transitioning to electric vehicles. Then, that’s where both Kempower and DLL come in to make this idea a reality,” added Perera 

Rebecca, Dylan and Sam agree that they encourage local operators to not be shy if they are thinking of trying new vehicle technology. Now serves as an ideal time to partner the infrastructure required with innovative financing arrangements. 

“The biggest challenge for operators in the transition is knowledge - Kempower can use our expertise on a technical side, while DLL can complete the picture by providing a tailored financial solution for them - that’s the real benefit of this combination,” Perera says.

Ready To Electrify Your Fleet?

“If anyone is considering starting the journey or scaling their electric transportation transition, let’s connect to discuss how we can overcome the financial and infrastructure challenges, foster growth and reduce adoption barriers for operators,” Sawant says. 

“This collaboration is about more than just business; it’s about leading the charge towards a more sustainable, electrified transportation future.”

Ready to start your electric transportation journey? Check out our ET solutions, here!

Disclaimer: Finance is provided by De Lage Landen Pty Limited (ABN 20 101 692 040) (DLL). Equipment to be used for business purposes only. Subject to DLL’s standard credit criteria, fees and terms and conditions apply.