This is how Kempower keeps renewing itself: 'If everything always works, the risk level is wrong'

All circuits lead to Lahti, at least in the field of transport electrification. When the market for fast chargers for electric vehicles took off in 2016-17, Kempower in Lahti jumped on board.
 
Investors and competitors are following Kempower again, and for good reason. After all, the company  is already experiencing a new period of renewal. Originating from Kemppi, a specialist in welding systems, Kempower first took over the fast charging of electric cars, expands next into electric trucks and is already looking beyond them to the horizon of a new market.
 
How does one pull off such a hat-trick of renewal? And how has Business Finland been involved in supporting the company? Mikko Veikkolainen, Kempower's Vice President for Research and Innovation and Tuukka Vainio, Kempower's Account Manager at Business Finland, tell us.

How Kempower was born: EVE program as an accelerator for competitive advantage

Mikko Veikkolainen has seen Kempower through its entire development cycle. He already had a long career at Kemppi in product and new business development. One of the projects on Veikkolainen's desk was electric vehicle charging and market research.
 
There was potential: Kemppi’s power supply was a reliable flagship for the welding industry, and was also used in other demanding applications, such as the CERN particle accelerator. Its dynamic control allowed power supplies to be added and removed without interference.
 
The Veikkolainen team wanted to apply the same competitive advantage to fast charging of electric cars. In 2012, the idea became an opportunity in Tekes' (now Business Finland) EVE program, which focused on electric vehicle systems and aimed to lay the groundwork for the development of electric transport infrastructure in Finland.
 
"EVE allowed us to partner and invest heavily in market analysis and technology development. Our first fast charging devices for electric cars have been developed with Tekes' support," says Veikkolainen.
 
Distribution and sales were planned together with another company participating in the program, until the partner unexpectedly decided to withdraw from the project. At the same time, the market for fast charging of electric vehicles was starting to grow rapidly. Kemppi decided to go it alone and step on the gas.
 
"We were already a bit late, which was a good thing in the end: we were able to test the technology of the first players on the market and improve our own on that basis," recalls Veikkolainen.
 
In 2017, the business plan was ready and Kempower saw the light of day as a company in its own right.

Chargers from Lahti to every continent

For the first few years, Kempower focused on the Nordic countries and especially on the most mature market for electric vehicle charging, Norway – because when you're present in the most advanced market, you can see what problems the rest of the world will face in a few years, Veikkolainen says.
 
Kempower quickly stood out: its competitive advantage was a power supply that was positioned off to the side of the charging area, distributing power to the charging points according to the vehicles' needs.
 
"Other charger manufacturers didn't have this, if you don't count Tesla. Competitors had power supplies at the charging points and could not distribute power to any vehicle other than the one connected to that charging point," says Veikkolainen.
 
Exports started to take off quickly in the rest of the world. First expanding into Europe, this year North America took off. With the exception of South America, the company has supplied chargers to every corner of the world. There are 14 subsidiaries and more than 800 employees in different countries. 
 
"Our strong export expertise goes back to Kemppi, and it was clear to us that we would immediately go international. However, Business Finland's assistance and advice on new markets has been invaluable with our subsidiaries – in starting up local operations and finding contacts and premises," Veikkolainen says.

Next up, electricity trucks: 'Professional transport does not queue for a charger'

Business Finland's Tuukka Vainio has been with Kempower since 2022, when the company was already booming. He sees many successes in the company's success story.
 
"The company has managed to identify its own technological competitive advantage and an emerging megatrend to which it can contribute. In addition, the company has entered a growing market at the right time. And at the heart of it all is the courage to innovate – Kempower is already innovating again," says Vainio with a smile.
 
Vainio refers to Business Finland's Challenge Competition for Leading Companies, which aims to encourage companies to increase their RDI activities in Finland and create jobs and billion-dollar ecosystems for new business. Vainio raised the competition with Kempower at the very first client meeting.

"Business Finland had just recently introduced funding for leading companies to apply also challenger companies, and Kempower was a perfect fit," says Vainio.
 
Kempower won the challenge and in February 2023 was awarded funding for its Heavy Electric Traffic Ecosystem (HETE) program.

Kempower is working with its ecosystem to develop a solution for the next emerging need: electric truck charging.
 
"In a few years, heavy transport will be a bigger electrification market than passenger cars. Then we will need workable solutions: commercial vehicles will not queue up for a charger," he says.
 
The ecosystem includes more than 100 players from sectors such as energy and heavy goods vehicles.
 
"The ecosystem has been a very good way forward. It allows us to identify what the customer needs will be in a few years' time. We always go to the market to solve customer needs first, technology comes second in the service role," says Veikkolainen.

New upward trends on the horizon

According to Veikkolainen, Kemppi and Kempower have been given "broader shoulders" by Tekes and Business Finland: the ability to take risks and the resources to venture into new areas. Tuukka Vainio says that this is precisely Business Finland's core purpose.
 
"Our mission is to share risk and provide opportunities for companies to innovate in international markets. Kemppi and Kempower are an excellent example of seizing the opportunity: a traditional industrial company that builds something new around its technology and finds growth potential many times greater than its own sector," says Vainio.
 
And they are also daring to go further in new directions. Indeed, alongside electric trucks, Kempower is already exploring another new market: the electrification of aviation and electric aircraft charging.
 
Will this market also take off – and will Kempower reach new heights with it? Veikkolainen says it's too early to know for sure.
 
"If everything always works out, the risk level is wrong."

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