Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France (ADVANTICS) – Nowadays global headlines are often dominated by transatlantic trade tensions. In July, just as Europe eased into summer mode, the United States and European Union signed a last-minute trade agreement that avoided a major trade war—agreeing to a 15% baseline tariff on almost all EU goods entering the U.S., including a reduction from the steep 27.5% tariff on the EU car imports. We mean last-minute quite literally, as the deal was struck at Trump’s luxury golf course in western Scotland, after an hour-long meeting that finally pushed months of deadlocked negotiations over the line.

In today’s global landscape, building locally isn’t just patriotic—it’s strategic. The global energy and tech ecosystem has learned the hard way that dependency on fragile supply chains is a risk to the 3Rs–reliance, reliability and resilience.

At ADVANTICS, as an EU company, we are proud to produce locally. We see this not just as a challenge, but an opportunity. One that calls for leaner, more localized, more resilient production—designed and built in Europe for the future of clean energy everywhere. We do this by delivering high-performance European innovation and solutions built for scale, with our headquarters and engineering design centre in France and manufacturing units based in the Czech Republic. Here’s why ‘Made in EU’ matters, and why local manufacturing is rewarding in the long run:

Closer Collaboration with Production

“To achieve a good production price, it is critical to have close cooperation between development and production teams,” said Jiri Vyskocil, head of R&D at ADVANTICS.

Manufacturing locally enables tighter feedback loops between design and production teams—leading to faster iterations with a possibility to visit on-site, better quality control, and smarter design decisions. Take PCB assembling, for example: selection and placement of components on the board has a dramatic impact on the soldering technology used for the production and quality of the soldering process. If production is finally forced to use manual soldering for some components, it is not only more expensive but also less reliable. By working closely with our local manufacturing partners, we can optimize designs in a way that can make high-performance hardware more cost-effective to produce.

For some, engineering is just engineering. At ADVANTICS, we consider it art. That’s why every product we design comes with an artist’s signature—because it reflects the craft, care, and accountability of the people behind it. Would this be possible if design were outsourced to the lowest bidder? Probably not. When design and production are separated by oceans, that sense of ownership often gets lost. Our vertically integrated, European-based approach ensures that every detail is thought through—not just for performance, but for elegance, efficiency, and responsibility. Our charge controllers and power electronics are designed and manufactured in the EU, allowing our teams to work closely with our production partners. This proximity means we can rapidly iterate, troubleshoot, and adapt to specific customer needs without the delays of offshore coordination.

Lower Carbon Footprint and Sustainable Supply Chains

Producing locally significantly reduces emissions from transcontinental logistics. Transporting heavy components across oceans adds unnecessary carbon load—a contradiction when building clean energy infrastructure such as upscaling e-mobility. That’s why even major Asian OEMs are localizing production in Europe: Suzuki produces its European models in Hungary, with an annual capacity of around 300,000 vehicles. Hyundai operates its main European production hub in the Czech Republic, capable of ~300-350 000 vehicles per year. It also maintains a smaller assembly facility in Turkey for models targeting the European market. BYD with an ambitious vision to “Cool the Earth by 1°C” (although the best we can really do is maintain the current temperature of the Earth) will triple its local production capacity for e-buses and e-trucks with a new facility in Komárom, northern Hungary, in addition to BYD’s electric car manufacturing facility also in development in Szeged, in southern Hungary.

Using our experience in local production, we would like to eventually also produce our products in the U.S., so that our American customers can benefit from ADVANTICS products made closer to home.

Building the Regional Economy

When companies buy from European suppliers, it’s not just an industrial transaction—it’s an investment in Europe’s future. Revenue stays within the EU, supporting local jobs, innovation, and technological leadership. Job creation related to renewable energy and energy efficiency stems from the production of renewable energy itself as well as from the manufacturing of renewable energy and energy-efficient equipment, and the provision of pertinent installation, engineering and research services. According to Eurostat , more than 2 million full-time equivalent jobs have been created in the EU in this sector between 2000 and 2022. In contrast, relying on cheaper imports from Asia—while sometimes cost-effective in the short term—means lost opportunities to strengthen the EU’s position in global clean tech. At ADVANTICS, we’re proud to contribute to this virtuous cycle by building and sourcing within Europe whenever possible. We also maintain a large stock of inductors sourced from China—recognizing their excellence in the electrical component industry among others—to help ensure a resilient and stable supply chain, even in unpredictable times.

Built-In Compliance and Safety by Design

European regulations are among the most rigorous in the world, and that’s a good thing—especially for high-power electrical systems where safety is non-negotiable.

Our products–specially isolated DC/AC power converters–are crucial to ensure safety. It includes galvanic isolation to protect both users and the equipment—and that’s only truly possible to guarantee when compliance is baked into the design of the whole system and verified by certified European partners. When products are developed and manufactured under the EU standards, customers can be confident they meet rigorous standards for testing and safety. With offshore manufacturing, the risk of substandard testing, inconsistent materials, or missed certifications increases—and the consequences can be costly.

Protection of Intellectual Property European manufacturing offers stronger protections for intellectual property (IP), helping to safeguard the innovation that drives clean energy forward. By designing and producing within the EU, companies can better ensure their technologies aren’t compromised, copied, or misused—difficult to avoid when you need to provide full documentation for production outside the EU. It is an essential advantage when dealing with innovation developed through years of R&D.

Despite these advantages, engineers and industrial leaders will know that turning strategy into solder and a prototype into scale, isn’t always so simple.

We get it—local production is hard. That’s why we support our friends in the U.S. and worldwide in their journey to building capacity and strengthening local production. We are in this together.

In Europe, one of the main challenges of manufacturing is that component suppliers are fewer and more spread out. In contrast, countries like China have a dense supplier network, giving manufacturers more flexibility, faster turnaround, and better economies of scale.

That’s why competitive pricing in Europe or elsewhere demands smarter design—products must be optimized for available components and regional sourcing. We have tackled this by engineering modular, flexible systems that align with what’s locally accessible, optimisable and reproducible, without compromising on quality or performance.

But here’s the good news: as more companies commit to sourcing and building locally, demand grows—and so does supplier diversity, with the added benefits of local accountability, originality, and reduced environmental impact. ADVANTICS is proud to be one of the key players in enabling the next generation of energy infrastructure. Our commitment to EU-based design and manufacturing allows us to offer smarter, more reliable, and more sustainable power solutions for demanding applications—from EV charging and microgrids to marine and government sectors. Our newest market-ready technologies are enabling high-power charging with the Megawatt Charging System (MCS), designed to take heavy-duty transport charging for long-haul trucks and ships to the next level.

In the next edition of Current Affairs, we’ll explore how lessons from today’s EV infrastructure missteps are shaping the future of megawatt charging—and what we must get right to make it work. See you next month!