ABB is a worldwide enthusiast and participant in the commercial and industrial sector move to electric vehicles, and on Wednesday strengthened that commitment by announcing a major expansion of EV charger manufacturing capacity in the U.S.
ABB E-mobility’s multi-million investment in new manufacturing operations in Columbia, South Carolina. The commitment will create more than 100 new jobs there at a facility which will capable of producing up to 10,000 chargers per year.
The chargers will vary from 20 kW to 180 kW in power, making them ideal for public charging sites, school buses and fleets, the company said.
“The need for investment in the U.S. e-mobility sector has never been greater, as 18 million EVs are expected to be on U.S. roads by 2030,” Bob Stojanovic, Vice President for ABB E-mobility in North America, said. “Expanding our US manufacturing operations will allow us to better serve our customers and help advance the adoption of EVs from private vehicles to public transportation and fleets. Our facility in South Carolina is another example of how we are driving the American e-mobility economy forward with high-quality and reliable EV charging solutions that meet the needs of every part of a sustainable transportation ecosystem.”
The company moving quick on this new site. Facility operations are ramping up now and chargers will be ready for market in early 2023.
Swiss-based ABB’s move toward expanding the supply chain in the U.S. is the latest such move since the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act was passed to allocate more than $350 billion toward incentivizing domestic decarbonizing moves such as electric vehicle ownership and infrastructure, energy efficiency and renewables.
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The operation builds on ABB E-mobility’s existing U.S. manufacturing operations which produce transit bus chargers that range from 150 kW to 450 kW. The global technology firm has been a major support of e-mobility development for years, including sponsoring of the all-electric Formula E racing series.
“Anybody who drives an electric car, you don’t want to go back to the pollution and the noise; no way you go back,” Frank Muehlon, president of ABB’s E-Mobility unit, said during the NYC Formula E event in July. “It’s just a question of how fast does it get there.”
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In addition to the South Carolina facility, ABB E-mobility also announced in July the launch of a training center in Sugar Land, Texas and an R&D facility in Southern California.
This year ABB also acquired a controlling interest in EV commercial charging infrastructure solutions company, InCharge Energy, expanding ABB’s smart and connected EV offering. In addition, ABB invested in EV charging software provider, ChargeLab.
Since 2010, ABB has invested $14 billion in the U.S. with plant expansions, operational improvements, state-of-the-art equipment, products, and additional hiring of workers.
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(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).
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