Biden to Announce EV Charger Plant Will Be Built in Tennessee
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President Joe Biden and Tritium DCFC Ltd. CEO Jane Hunter will announce Feb. 8 that the Australian electric-vehicle charging company plans to build its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Tennessee.
The plant in Lebanon, east of Nashville, is expected to produce as many as 30,000 electric vehicle chargers annually and create 500 jobs, the White House said.
Hunter said her company decided to invest more heavily in its American operations after seeing demand surge after the infrastructure law passed last year. That eventually accelerated plans to open a North American plant as well as expectations for how many chargers could be produced annually.
The company listed on the Nasdaq exchange in January and plans to move some senior executive positions to the U.S. as part of its expanding focus.
“That was a really big step change for the company, and we see that North American market getting even bigger again next year, potentially even taking over what’s traditionally been for us, in Europe, our major revenue source,” Hunter said.
Today, @POTUS and Tritium will announce a new Electric Vehicle charger manufacturing facility in Tennessee. EV charging manufacturers large and small are investing and expanding U.S. operations, driven by @POTUS’s economic strategy: https://t.co/cTQ0UopVkf — The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 8, 2022
Tritium evaluated a number of potential factory sites, including Texas, before deciding on Tennessee because of a combination of tax incentives, logistics advantages and labor availability, the company said. Many of the workers at the factory would only need a few weeks of training to begin building the chargers, Hunter added.
“It’s an announcement about manufacturing and what the Biden administration’s legislation has done to draw companies into the country, grow jobs onshore, grow manufacturing onshore, and I think it’s just a lovely example of that,” she said.
The White House has said its goal is to build a national network of at least half a million electric vehicle charging stations by the end of the decade. The infrastructure law includes $65 billion for upgrades to the nation’s electrical grid, $7 billion earmarked to bolster the supply chain for electric vehicles, and $7.5 billion specifically earmarked for charging stations.
The first $5 billion tranche of charging station funding is expected to be distributed over the next five days, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm set to announce later this week how much each state will receive under the program. The federal government plans to designate corridors along the interstate highway system where drivers could be assured they would have access to charging stations.
If completed, the build-out would represent a significant increase in available chargers, which automobile companies hope will ease the anxiety expressed by consumers who are reluctant to give up on the convenience offered by gas-powered vehicles. The Department of Energy estimates that there are 122,000 electric vehicle chargers at about 48,000 locations nationwide.
Tritium’s decision follows Intel Corp.’s announcement last month that it will build a $20 billion semiconductor factory in Ohio.
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