Australian heavy-transport electrification company Janus Electric is eyeing an expansion plan that will focus on five regions in the United States, a Western Australian road-train electrification joint venture, and even a battery swap corridor between New South Wales and Victoria.
Founded in 2019, Janus Electric bills itself as a heavy-transport electrification company, offering a conversion system that turns existing diesel prime movers into battery-electric trucks with a swappable battery system.
In just the last fortnight, Janus has secured new conversion kit and swappable battery orders, bringing its order book to 124 truck conversions, worth more than $A64 million, as well as a new investment from one of its US-based suppliers.
But the company is focused ahead, unveiling its “Horizon Two” strategy this week, which includes expansion across five US regions, a proposed joint venture in Western Australia, increased production capacity, and a capital-light charging and energy network.
The company also reaffirmed its revenue guidance for the 2027 financial year of between $A70 million and $A100 million.
Janus already boasts a presence in the west of the US as well as Canada, is in the process of expanding into Texas and surrounding states, and has identified an authorised dealer in New York to cement its future Northeast & Mid-Atlantic region. Two more regions – Southeast focused around Georgia and Midwest & Great Lakes centred around Chicago and Detroit – are on the cards to begin ramping next year.
But Janus isn’t ignoring its home market of Australia, with two major proposed plans focused around Western Australia and the East Coast.
A proposed joint venture with an unnamed “leading engineering services business”, the Ranger joint venture (JV) is designed to combine the conversion of diesel trucks with battery swap and hybrid technology to electrify road trains and mine haulage in Western Australia.
Janus confirmed in its Horizon Two presentation that it is currently aiming to secure definitive agreements and the formation of its JV in December, which would be centred on a Perth-based workshop and have room for up to four cornerstone customer-investors.
The JV is aiming to create battery-electric and hybrid prime movers for iron ore road trains hauling goods to port, electric road trains on mine-to-rail and mine-to-port routes for lithium and bulk transport, battery-powered trailers and converted prime movers for grain logistics, and hybrid retrofits on other existing fleets.
Headquartered on the New South Wales Central Coast, though, Janus is also targeting a local facility that supplies every market and a home fleet that would serve as a template for shared freight corridors.
In addition to kit manufacturing for Australia, North America, and other partners, Janus is hoping to secure government funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) ‘Driving the Nation’ programme to help build a shared swap and charging corridor between Newcastle and Melbourne for freight operators.
The accelerated expansion plans are backed by larger and faster opportunities that presented themselves in North America.
Janus now boasts orders from five companies in North America for conversion kits and swappable batteries for 124 trucks.
The most recent supply agreement was signed only last week with existing customer King Fio Trucking in California, for six Class 8 electric truck conversions. This brings the total commitment from King Fio Trucking to 12 trucks and 14 swappable battery sets.
The repeat order is worth approximately $3.1 million and is conditional upon approval of the applicable California incentives, which could amount to as much as $US1.6 million in funding for the six additional trucks.
“King Fio’s decision to double its order is another strong endorsement from our existing customers of our technology and demonstrates continued demand for our electric truck conversion and battery-swapping solution,” said Ben Hutt, managing director and CEO of Janus Electric.
“Importantly, the additional trucks will use the charging and battery-swapping infrastructure included in King Fio’s original order, demonstrating the scalability of our model and how fleet operators can expand fleets without having to duplicate charging facilities.”
The repeat order comes only a few months after King Fio placed its first order with Janus for six conversion kits and eight swappable battery packs along with a Janus Charge & Change Station (JCCS).
The King Fio order was one part of a larger $A45 million supply order from US companies announced in July for a combined 67 diesel-to-electric truck conversions, 77 swappable battery packs, and four JCCSs.
Janus Electric also announced last week that North American lithium-ion battery manufacturer Electrovaya had agreed to make a strategic equity investment of approximately $A2.0 million in Janus Electric through a share placement, subject to completion conditions.
The new investment builds on Janus’s existing battery supply agreement with Electrovaya established in July 2025 and will provide additional working capital to support Janus Electric’s North American expansion plans.
