WASHINGTON—Australia’s Tritium DCFC Ltd. is planning to break ground this year on a Tennessee factory to build electric-vehicle charging stations, a development touted by the White House on Tuesday as part of a wave of new private-sector spending spurred by President Biden’s infrastructure policy.
Tritium said it expects to build six production lines to produce 30,000 of its fast chargers a year, creating more than 500 jobs at a site in Lebanon, east of Nashville.
President Biden and Tritium Chief Executive Officer Jane Hunter are scheduled to discuss the factory plans at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
The factory announcement is one in a series of developments that the White House said is taking place to support the build-out of a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles.
Last year’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill included $7.5 billion to support the auto industry’s electrification by expanding that recharging network.
Later this week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary
Jennifer Granholm
will announce how much of that infrastructure money for EVs will go to each state, the White House said.
Most of that money—$5 billion over five years—goes to states to create the network of charging stations, and the two agencies are working on guidance for how the states can spend that money.
Tritium was listed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Stock Market just two weeks ago, part of several new special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, spearheaded by
LLC to profit off the transition to cleaner fuels.
Tritium shares surged more than 50% following news of its factory plans Tuesday, recently trading at more than $10 a share.
In announcing the Tennessee factory, Tritium cited last year’s infrastructure bill as key support for its U.S. expansion. It also said it expects to announce an expansion of its European facilities next year.
“Tritium’s investment in a U.S.-based, cutting-edge facility for manufacturing is part of our strong push toward global growth,” Ms. Hunter said in a statement, adding that the company plans “to double or even triple our charger production capacity to further our product distribution throughout the United States.”
Workers assembled parts for electric-vehicle charging points at the Tritium manufacturing plant in Brisbane, Australia.
Photo:
Ian Waldie/Bloomberg News
Mr. Biden has pushed for that investment—and more through his stalled Build Back Better social-spending and climate bill—as a way to stimulate and modernize the U.S. auto industry and reduce the transportation sector’s contribution to climate change.
The White House is crediting that push for a spur of recent private-sector spending announcements preceding Tritium’s. It said industrial giants Siemens AG and
ABB Ltd.
are among a handful of companies that are also planning to build or expand plants that build chargers and equipment in the U.S.
Write to Timothy Puko at [email protected]
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