New Green Jobs Coming to Wytheville

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The Southwest Times

WYTHEVILLE – Eighty-four new jobs will soon be coming to Wytheville when a company formed in 2009 breaks off from its parent company and expands into a new facility.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling joined other government leaders and company officials Monday to announced the new jobs at Evatran LLC.

“This project is the first step that will eventually lead to the hiring of hundreds of production staff and management personnel over the next five years,” said Bolling on behalf of Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Evatran, a subsidiary of MTC Transformers, is the manufacturer of the world's first "hands-free" electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). The company intends to invest $3.5 million in a new facility in Wytheville that will manufacture Plugless Power™ charging technology for electric vehicles.

State officials said Virginia successfully competed against North Carolina and Ohio for the project.

MTC Transformers, founded in Wytheville in 1985, manufactures specialized electrical transformers. It started Evatran in April 2009, but Evatran will separate from MTC Transformers in July.

“The state-of-the-art technology that will be used at Evatran’s new manufacturing facility in Wytheville is vital to the electric vehicle industry,” McDonnell said of the project. “In light of today’s need to ever increase energy conservation, I commend the company’s key involvement in alternative energy solutions such as Plugless Power™. In addition, 84 job opportunities with salaries higher than the region’s average per capita personal income make this project a great win for Wytheville and the Commonwealth overall.”

Plugless Power™ is the world's first "hands-free" charging system for electric vehicles. Utilizing a unique dual-component system based on inductive technology, Plugless Power™ streamlines the process of charging electric vehicles by eliminating the nuisance of the cord and the plug. The result is a system that is convenient, universal and reliable, according to state officials.

Evatran's customers are manufacturers, dealers and drivers of electric or extended-range hybrid vehicles. Other customers utilizing Plugless Power™ could include corporations, municipal governments, utilities, residential developers, homebuilders, retailers and small businesses.

"We are eager to apply the capabilities and dedication of Virginia workers to create a transportation infrastructure that responds to 21st Century demands,” said Rebecca Hough, co-founder and director of sales and marketing for Evatran. “Evatran is proud to build on the quarter century's worth of domestic job creation begun through our parent company MTC Transformers, one of Virginia's fastest-growing manufacturers. We are delighted that our innovations in clean transportation have so much potential to boost the local economy in Wythe County, our home since 1985.”

Bolling noted, “Evatran is developing a revolutionary new technology for the emerging electric vehicle market, and their growing presence in Southwest Virginia will assist us in achieving our goal of making Virginia a leader in developing new and emerging energy technologies.”

McDonnell approved a $150,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to assist with the project and $235,000 in Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds was provided by the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.

“This project advances the Tobacco Commission’s goal of creating new jobs and a new economy in Southwest Virginia,” said Del. Terry Kilgore, chairman of the tobacco indemnification commission.

The Virginia Department of Business Assistance will provide training assistance through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Senator Phillip Puckett, a member of the Commission, called the project “the beginning of a new era in clean tech manufacturing."