As EV adoption accelerates and countries across the globe make plans to rapidly install charging infrastructure, many charger manufacturers are seeing intense growth as well.
On Wednesday, Spanish charging company Wallbox reported its first earnings since it went public via SPAC in October. The financials are a peek into how one EV charging company is trying to meet rising demand.
By the numbers…Last year, Wallbox’s revenue increased to $86.5 million—a 266% increase over 2020. For context, global EV adoption hit an inflection point last year, with automakers more than doubling 2020 volumes to sell a record 6.6 million plug-in vehicles, according to the International Energy Agency.
While the company has mostly been focused on at-home charging equipment for European customers since its founding in 2015, Wallbox is now scaling its production of public DC fast chargers, bringing its smart charging software in-house, and establishing its presence in new markets.
Growth mode
Wallbox more than doubled the size of its workforce to around 900 employees over the course of 2021 and sold ~129,000 chargers, more than triple the number it sold in 2020, according to the company’s earnings report.
As it ramps up production, grows its headcount, and expands its product offerings, Wallbox—like many other charging companies—is still spending more money than it’s making. The company reported a loss of $69.2 million in 2021, up from $13.3 million in 2020.
“We consider these near-term opportunities to expand our footprint and accelerate product development as a smart investment decision. We do not anticipate this spending level to continue. We believe that they will provide attractive returns,” Jordi Lainz, CFO at Wallbox, told analysts on the company’s March 16 earnings call.
Wallbox is building a 121,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Barcelona that will be able to produce 750,000 chargers by the end of the year and aims to grow to 1 million units annually by 2025. And while nearly 90% of the charging units it sold in the Q4 of 2021 were in Europe, the company is focused on expanding its sales footprint.
Made in the USA
Wallbox entered the US market in February 2021, and US sales accounted for just $5.7 million in revenue last year. But its business there is growing quickly, the company says.
Keep up with the innovative tech transforming business
Tech Brew keeps business leaders up-to-date on the latest innovations, automation advances, policy shifts, and more, so they can make informed decisions about tech.
“The US is an important market for Wallbox and one we are aggressively investing in,” Lainz said on the earnings call.
The $7.5 billion for EV charging stations in the infrastructure law passed last year“hopefully marks a turning point in the US’s adoption of electric transportation,” Wallbox CEO Enric Asunción said.
The company is building a factory in Arlington, Texas that is on track to begin production in the second half of this year. Wallbox is planning to produce chargers in the US in time to be eligible for federal subsidies, which will have requirements about domestic manufacturing.
Wallbox also has significant partnerships in the US, including one with Uber that allows drivers to install Wallbox Pulsar Plus chargers at a discount and a retail partnership with NAPA Auto Parts to sell its chargers online and at 6,000+ locations in the US and Canada.
Looking ahead:Wallbox expects to reach profitability in 2024. The company predicts that revenue will more than double again in 2022, to more than $200 million, according to the most recent guidance from Wallbox.
The company is pushing into the public charger market and plans to vertically integrate as much as possible.
Wallbox said this strategy could help insulate its business from supply- chain issues, such as the semiconductor shortage. The company announced an in-house software system called Atlas that is slated to begin replacing third-party software in its chargers later this year.
While most of its 2021 revenue came from hardware sales, the company expects that software and services will account for about 20% of its revenue in the long-term.