Tritium pivots manufacturing in the US

The Australian fast-charging station manufacturer Tritium is closing its plant in Brisbane and relocating its entire production to the USA. At the end of October, the company was declined a $90 million investment from the Queensland government that would have saved its Brisbane factory.

Tritium, founded and, until now, based in Australia, is to move its entire production of electric vehicle fast charging columns offshore. Tritium opened the US plant in Lebanon, Tennessee, in August 2022. At that time, the plant was said to be able to produce up to 30,000 DC chargers per year on up to six production lines at full capacity. Tritium says it has delivered 14,500 fast chargers to 47 countries, meaning that production capacity in Lebanon, USA, should be sufficient for the time being.

Tritium intends to retain and expand its more than 200-strong research and development team and the test facility in Brisbane, the company’s original home base. Tritium wants to operate profitably from next year and reduce its external capital requirements. This could also involve further job cuts, as “sales and administration costs” will be reduced.

According to Tritium CEO Jane Hunter, strategic restructuring is necessary to increase profitability and shareholder value. “The implementation of this plan, including the closure of the Brisbane factory and consolidating our manufacturing operations in Tennessee, supports the ongoing market competitiveness and positioning of the company as a world leader in its category, driven in part by the highly successful scale-up of our US plant and the NEVI and BABA programs in the United States while bringing our manufacturing operations closer to our largest markets,” she said.

The company’s US pivot follows the magnet of industrial support in the USA for manufacturing in the larger economic region. Tritium says opening the US factory was an important step in its strategy to achieve Buy America Build America (BABA) compliance, as required by the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program that funds fast chargers every 50 miles along American highways.

Tritium is listed on the US technology exchange Nasdaq, and the company’s shares are traded under the symbol DCFC. The IPO was completed in January 2022 via a SPAC merger. In October, Nasdaq informed Tritium that the share price had traded below the minimum bid limit for 30 consecutive days. The Tritium CEO Jane Hunter said of the pivot towards the US and away from Australian manufacturing: “This transition is aligned with the company’s plan to be profitable in 2024.”

tritiumcharging.com, innovationaus.com