Tritium teams up with Wise EV to roll out fast chargers across USA, starting in Florida

Brisbane-based Tritium (NASDAQ: DCFC) has today announced a partnership with the subsidiary of Las Vegas-headquartered Wise Power Inc to provide electric vehicle (EV) direct current (DC) fast chargers for a new national network in the USA.

The company - founded in a garage in 2001 by James Kennedy, David Finn and Paul Sernia - will start the new partnership by supplying DC fast chargers to major gas station partners of Wise EV at 25 locations throughout Florida.

Florida is the number two state in the USA for overall passenger EV sales, according to the Department of Energy (DOE), and received the third largest state allocation under the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) US$615 million National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program Guidance, as part of the US$7.5 billion investment in electric vehicle charging as part of the 2022 Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.

"Wise EV shares Tritium’s vision of ubiquitous DC fast charging where EV motorists can drive across the country and within major high density population cities with the full confidence they will have a place for fast charging, without planning," says Tritium's president for the Americas, Mike Calise.

"We believe this is the beginning of a long-term partnership that will help provide Americans the charging infrastructure necessary to enable the electrification of transportation and the environmental and decarbonisation benefits that go along with it," Calise says.

Wise EV has plans to expand the network using a hub and spoke philosophy, centering the charging around metropolitan hubs and connecting those cities through interstate-based charging spokes.

The company has the goal to build a charging network that will allow drivers to travel from coast-to-coast, with plans to aggressively expand its network with Tritium’s fast charging technology to establish metropolitan charging hubs in 2022 and connecting those hubs with interstate charging spokes in 2022 and 2023.

"We’re delighted to announce our new EV charging network, powered by Tritium’s fast charging technology," says Wise Power Inc CEO Kevin Williams.

"Tritium’s chargers are a great fit for our business and expansion model, with their small footprint, upgradeable power and smart, customer-focused features like simultaneous charging and Plug and Charge. With Tritium’s advanced technology, we’re confident that we can achieve our goal of creating a national EV charging network."

The news follows the announcement of plans to build a manufacturing plant in Lebanon, Tennessee that is due to open in the third quarter of this calendar year, touted by US President Joe Biden as both a future source of local jobs and critical electric vehicle infrastructure.

Tritium CEO Jane Hunter joined President Biden at a White House press conference to explain her vision and how the company can contribute with initial capacity in Tennessee to supply 10,000 fast charger units per year with room to expand to 30,000.

But it has been a volatile time for Tritium shares since listing on the NASDAQ this year, falling substantially before charging higher by 188 per cent to a high of $19.75 each following the manufacturing announcements and White House press conference, only to discharge down quickly to IPO levels below $10 as interest dimmed.

Investors appear concerned about the company's level of cash burn and when it will become profitable, after group revenue rose by 19.6 per cent in FY21 to US$56.17 million but losses almost doubled to US$1.9 million.

In calendar 2021, revenue stood at US$78 million which was below the previous forecast of US$84 million, due to delays at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles that impacted deliveries. At the end of year the company had a backlog of US$82 million worth of charger orders, a year-on-year increase of 316 per cent and representing half its revenue guidance for calendar 2022.

In 2023 the company forecasts revenue of US$359 million, which would put it just shy of a US$405 million forecast for competitor wallbox and at the current levels of market leader ChargePoint.