Electric car support firm hits accelerator
A POWER boost to the coffers of cutting edge Brisbane-based electric vehicle charging station company Tritium is set to amp up its production to fuel the world’s accelerating shift to transport electrification.
The latest surge of $60 million in orders – a total of 1500 of its state-of-the-art EV charging stations – will be rolled out at its Murarrie manufacturing facility over the next six months.
It is also predicting a further post-pandemic rush of orders with many overseas government stimulus packages targeting the electrification of transport. Tritium has already deployed more than 4500 of its stations with advanced DC fast charging technology across 33 countries in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
In a turning point for the tech company, the initial growth of which has been driven by venture capital, it recently secured a $45 million private placement debt funding deal with US health insurance giant Cigna Corp to power up its next phase of expansion.
It plans to use the funds to refinance an Export Finance Australia trade finance facility and to increase production capacity as well as keep its charging infrastructure technology ahead of the game.
“This is a welcome capital injection as the company continues to grow operations and invests in new product development and global marketing,” said Tritium CEO Jane Hunter. Ms Hunter was previously chief operating officer of Boeing Phantom Works, the aerospace company’s advanced prototyping arm.
Ms Hunter said that the company’s growth had been doubling year-on-year corresponding with the increasing uptake of electric vehicles and the need to roll out charging infrastructure.
“There’s no reason we won’t hit that target and double again in 2020-21,” she said.
Tritium’s chairman, key backer and largest shareholder (27 per cent) is Queensland energy kingpin Trevor St Baker.