Australian firm Tritium goes even bigger at Lebanon TN Plant - NBJ



By Adam Sichko – Senior Reporter, Nashville Business Journal
Feb 13, 2023

Rising sales of electric vehicles, and one gigantic customer order, are propelling a nearly 270-job expansion for a company that makes the charging stations that replenish battery power in those vehicles.

Australia-based Tritium DCFC Ltd. (Nasdaq: DCFC) is banking on its Lebanon facility, east of Nashville, to support the largest backlog and biggest sales in its 22-year history. The company is one example of the surge in jobs announcements tied to the electric vehicle industry that is quickly emerging across Middle Tennessee and the entire state — including automakers, battery makers and companies mining metals for those batteries.

Tritium's growth during its brief time in Lebanon mirrors the company's recent ascent:
  • Eight months ago, Tritium began assembling charging stations on one production line. Two lines operate today, with plans to add three more this year.
  • Tritium workers made 400 charging stations in December, and the company expects to make 6,600 this year. That's more than 20% of the way toward the plant's annual capacity of 30,000 units.
  • Tritium employs more than 200 people in Lebanon today, which count toward the 510 jobs the company originally pledged to have within five years. The company is adding 268 more jobs, paying an average of $24.22 an hour, according to state records.
  • That 53% boost in its target headcount will trigger a 52% increase in its state incentive, according to government records. The company now is poised to receive $1.56 million of grant funding, in a vote set to occur at the Feb. 15 meeting of the state Funding Board.
  • Last month, Tritium announced its largest order in company history, from global oil company BP plc (NYSE: BP). The Lebanon plant will make chargers to fulfill what BP ordered for the American and European markets.
  • Revenue landed in the range of $95 million to $102 million in 2022, an increase of 23% to 32% compared to 2021. Tritium expects revenue to double — at minimum — this year, topping $200 million.
Notably, the company alluded to hiring challenges in Lebanon, at a time when the unemployment rate remains well below 3%. "While demand for Tritium’s products supports an even faster factory ramp-up with additional lines and more shifts," Tritium said in a press release, "the company continues to balance its growth within the guardrails of working capital availability and labor recruitment in the local Tennessee market."

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