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.
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.
“This is great news for workers across the country, for the economy and frankly for the planet,” President Biden said at a news conference with Tritium CEO Jane Hunter at the White House. The factory is another step in helping the U.S. compete with China for EV technology and build on efforts to bolster domestic manufacturing, he said.
Mr. Biden didn’t respond to a reporter’s question about Tennessee being a right-to-work state, which allows employees in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues. The White House didn’t immediately respond to follow-up questions.
Last year’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill included $7.5 billion to support the auto industry’s electrification by expanding the 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 nearly a month ago, part of several new special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, spearheaded by Riverstone Holdings LLC to profit off the transition to cleaner fuels.
Workers at the Tritium manufacturing plant in Brisbane, Australia.
Photo: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg News
Tritium shares jumped about 40% on news of its factory plans, closing Tuesday at $9.54.
Ms. Hunter said Mr. Biden’s infrastructure plan will have economic, public health and environmental benefits. She said the infrastructure bill spurred her company to build in the U.S. Tritium also said Tuesday it expects to announce an expansion of its European facilities next year.
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 make chargers and equipment in the U.S. Mr. Biden also heralded Intel Corp.’s plan to invest at least $20 billion in new chip-making capacity in Ohio.
“We’re seeing the beginning of an American manufacturing comeback,” the president said.
—Alex Leary
contributed to this article.
Corrections & Amplifications
Tritium DCFC went public on Jan. 14. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it went public two weeks ago. (Corrected on Feb. 8)
Write to Timothy Puko at [email protected]
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Appeared in the February 9, 2022, print edition as ‘Tennessee Gets EV Charging-Station Factory.’
