What’s next for Tritium? Eight questions for Anant Nahata from Exicom

Exicom announced the takeover of Tritium at the beginning of August. What is the current status?

We successfully closed the transactions for Tritium’s Australia and US operations on 9 September 2024, with the EU transaction following shortly after. Since the acquisition, our top priorities have been to re-engage with customers, employees and other stakeholders and rebuild trust. Tritium has been an innovator in DC Fast charging technology and we are working towards re-establishing Tritium as a global brand. Post acquisition our immediate priorities have been to continue warranty support for global customers, to put resources on new product development and to hire new leadership. We have made good progress on all these 3 fronts. During our participation in ICNC 24 event in Berlin, where we got a chance to meet many industry players & customers, and we were thrilled by their relief and enthusiasm for Tritium’s continued operations. This event initiated productive conversations around current and future opportunities with both existing and potentially new customer base.

Exicom’s CFO Shiraz Khanna and I have taken on interim leadership roles at Tritium while we put in new permanent leadership. Additionally, our order books have reopened, including for the PKM Flex—our new flagship modular and scalable charger, which boasts industry-leading features like grid connection over-subscription, liquid-cooled power cables, and 800A power delivery. While the official launch is planned for mid-2025, we’ve already secured early hardware sales, starting in September.

What’s next for existing Tritium customers and users? There are several well-known operators of Tritium charging stations, including Shell, BP and Ionity.

First, we would like to express our gratitude to our customers and users for their continued trust. Moving forward, we are committed to delivering the same industry-leading, innovative product solutions they’ve come to expect, with an even greater emphasis on service excellence. Our immediate focus is to not only continue but strengthen our support to provide world class warranty services for all global customers even though it may not be legally binding on us. Apart from re-distribution of global service inventory, investing in new parts procurement and hiring key resources; we are also in process of finalising a global support centre in the UK. In addition, we have strengthened our Engineering function to provide continued technical support for product feature upgrades.

Tritium had already closed its plant in Brisbane before the insolvency, while Exicom took over the development centre in Brisbane and the plant in Tennessee. However, Tritium was not profitable with this setup. How is this supposed to change now?

Tritium 1.0 faced several challenges—some were internal, stemming from management decisions, while others were external, influenced by market conditions and specific events. As EV adoption is still in its early stages, we acknowledge that the industry is navigating complex times. However, we believe fundamental charger demand is strong, underlying unit economics are positive, and by combining Exicom’s expertise in supply chain and manufacturing with Tritium’s exceptional engineering capabilities coupled with new product launches we will be closer to profitability than erstwhile Tritum has ever been.

That means that you now have a plant in the US. What prospects does this open up for Exicom?

Having a US facility significantly enhances our ability to serve both the Americas and the European markets. It positions Exicom to scale our operations, respond faster to customer needs, and capitalise on growth opportunities in two of the world’s most important EV markets.

Will the plant in Tennessee continue to manufacture the well-known Tritium products or also chargers developed by Exicom?

The Tennessee plant will remain focused on manufacturing Tritium’s current and new products, ensuring continuity and quality.

Exicom itself develops products for the charging infrastructure. Is a second development centre in Australia even necessary?

Tritium’s success has always been driven by its own intellectual property—both hardware and software. We believe the development centre in Australia will continue to play a crucial role in driving future innovation and ensuring the company’s long-term success. While Tritium’s development is mainly focused on distributed charging technology, Exicom is primarily into all-in-one DC Fast chargers, and we see products and markets we serve as complementary. We definitely look forward to exploring synergies in development to not only build the world’s best charging technology but also reduce the time to bring new products to market for customers.

Exicom has not made much of an appearance outside Asia so far. What is the difference between the markets in India, Asia and the rest of the world? What are the challenges in terms of charging infrastructure?

There is a clear difference in ecosystem maturity between India and regions like the US and EU. This includes variations in customer purchase criteria, end-user behaviour, EV adoption levels, and local regulations. In Western markets, reliability and cost of ownership are often a top priority, whereas in Asia, Capex cost considerations are more prominent. Also, in India, the bulk of the volume is around 120kW chargers, whereas we see a very fast movement to 400KW chargers in Europe and the US. We’re committed to educating our customers on quality standards and have recently launched remote diagnostics in India to elevate reliability and ensure consistent performance across our products.

What are your plans for Exicom’s charging business? Will the brand also be active in Europe or North America in the future?

Our near-term focus is on expanding in Europe and North America through Tritium’s established footprint and expertise. In the future, Exicom aims to introduce complementary product offerings that will strengthen relationships with existing customers and create a more robust, versatile product suite to meet diverse market needs.

Mr. Nahata, thank you for the interview