DURHAM – A manufacturer of electric vehicle chargers that is building a new facility in Durham County is upping its commitment to hire local Triangle workers by 300 jobs, following the approval of a local economic incentive at the Durham County Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday night.
Kempower, Inc., which is headquartered in Finland, announced earlier this month that it would be investing about $41 million to establish its first U.S. facility with plans to build and operationalize a network of half a million electric vehicle chargers across the United States following the approval of the state’s Economic Investment Committee for a state incentives package known as a job development investment grant, or JDIG.
But according to Matt Filter, the economic development manager for Durham County, who presented the local incentives package on Monday night, the company will create 601 jobs in Durham County with average annual wages of more than $71,000.
That’s 300 more positions than was announced earlier this month.
EV charging station manufacturer picks Durham for $41M plant, with plans to hire 300 workers
601 jobs coming to Durham
And a motion to approve the incentives package and direct the Durham County Manager to negotiate and execute the performance-based incentives package with the company was approved unanimously.
“This package has a lot of entry level opportunities as well as advancement opportunities within the company,” said Durham County Commissioner Nimasheena Burns in an interview with WRAL TechWire. For instance, the company has said that 362 of the new jobs that will be created will be available to workers who hold a high school degree or an associate’s degree.
And the company will establish a formal relationship, through a memorandum of understanding, with Durham Technical Community College, along with other partnerships with area workforce programs.
“To help fill these positions and create a training and hiring pipeline in electrical related training, the company has agreed to develop a partnership and an MOU, a memorandum of understanding, with Durham Technical Community College,” explained Filter about the company’s commitment.
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The company’s construction of the facility in Durham will also be supported by more than $3 million in performance-based economic incentives through the agreement the company has made with the State of North Carolina.
“Two years ago we started discussions about positioning ourselves to work in the electric vehicle and charging technology space,” said Burns. “We want to make sure we have prepared our residents for these opportunities. We have the talent.”
This is third economic development project announced in 2023, with Eli Lilly and Catalent both announcing projects as well.
“We have doubled our Economic Development staff and are in a great position to track their performance around these goals,” said Burns. “When people have access to opportunity they can afford housing, better health care and feed their families. With each job we bring in we are striving to make that a reality for everyone in Durham.”
Production at the planned facility is expected to begin in 2023, as Kempower expects to produce charging solutions that are compliant with the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI) established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, WRAL TechWire previously reported.
Under that program, North Carolina has access to $109 million to “create a network of fast-charging electric vehicle charging stations along designated major highways and in communities.” North Carolina’s plans under the program were submitted in August 2022.
