Janus Electric lined up Electrovaya batteries for its swappable electric semis

An Australian truck converter has put real money behind a simple idea: swap the battery instead of waiting for it to charge. Janus Electric placed initial orders worth about A$37.5 million with Electrovaya for battery systems, and Electrovaya agreed to take roughly A$2.0 million of Janus shares. Electrek put the orders at $26 million and the stock purchase at $1.4 million in U.S. terms.

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The orders back 124 heavy-duty conversion orders and commitments in the United States and Canada, according to the stock exchange filing that announced the deal. Each converted truck carries about 600 kWh of battery capacity, so the supply arrangement is large relative to anything a converter of diesel gliders has handled.

Electrovaya’s purchase orders and the A$2 million stake

Janus Electric, listed on the Australian exchange as JNS, disclosed the deal in an announcement dated Oct. 28. Electrovaya plans to subscribe for new Janus shares at the five-day volume-weighted average price before signing, with the final price and share count still to be set. It also receives free warrants equal to 150% of the placement shares, each exercisable at 125% of the placement price and expiring three years after issue.

Smallcaps adds that completion depends on conditions including exchange quotation of the new shares and any required approvals, and that the money is meant to fund commercial expansion in the United States and Canada. The orders are not binding until delivery schedules are confirmed, and payments depend on an agreed delivery schedule. Deliveries have started, which means packs are already moving from Electrovaya toward the first conversions even though the schedule is not final.

Electrek described the deal as apparently real cash and not a stock swap. Janus chief executive Ben Hutt said reliable battery supply is critical to the company’s growth. Electrovaya chief executive Dr. Raj Das Gupta said Janus has developed a practical solution to one of the major challenges facing heavy transport.

Four-minute swaps on a 310 kWh pack

Janus converts diesel Class 8 gliders, meaning a chassis and body without the engine or transmission, to electric power. Electrek lists a 480 hp electric motor, a standard 310 kWh battery with room for up to two packs, one on each side of the truck, and range of up to 370 miles loaded. A DC fast charge takes under 90 minutes, and a battery swap takes about four minutes.

That swap time is the reason for the design. A tractor that can trade a depleted pack for a full one in about four minutes can stay on its route without the downtime that has slowed adoption of long-haul electric trucks, provided the depots and spare packs exist. Janus sells the whole system, from conversion kits to charging infrastructure and fleet software, so the battery supply that Electrovaya provides is one input among several that a fleet must have in place before the first truck rolls.

The relationship is more than a year old. Electrovaya announced a commercial supply agreement with Janus Electric Holdings Limited on July 8, 2025, under which it would supply its Infinity high-voltage lithium-ion battery systems for Janus’s swappable platform. Janus described itself then as an Australian heavy-vehicle electrification company with a patented battery swap platform, conversion kits, charging infrastructure and fleet software, and a production facility on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The initial announcement framed the deal as Electrovaya’s entry into the Class 8 sector in the United States and Australia.

Electrek says Janus is scaling up and that Electrovaya’s expanding North American manufacturing is part of that plan. Hutt described the investment as a strong vote of confidence in Janus’s technology and its approach to electrifying heavy transport, which fits a company that moved from a supply contract to an equity partner within about sixteen months.

124 conversions, state incentives and the Jamestown plant

Janus’s reservation book passed 70 units in summer 2026, Electrek says, and the exchange filing now counts 124 conversion orders and commitments. Some of those remain subject to conditions such as incentive-program confirmation and due diligence, according to Smallcaps. Electrek reports that California’s HVIP voucher and support from the Port of Los Angeles can bring up to $166,000 per truck conversion, and that federal EPA diesel emissions reduction grants also helped drive orders.

Electrovaya is building a lithium-ion cell, module and battery pack facility in Jamestown, New York. Electrek says it is expected to open in 2027, and the exchange filing says operations are expected to begin during Electrovaya’s 2027 financial year. Electrek notes the plant is described as potentially compliant with Build America, Buy America rules, which it does not confirm. The same article says no unit counts or delivery timelines are attached to the $26 million of orders, and that its own account of the purchase-order wording is partly garbled, so the exchange filing is the safer reference.

The numbers leave one question open. The purchase orders carry no delivery dates in the sources, and the filing itself warns that their full indicative value is not assured until schedules are confirmed. How quickly the first of those 124 trucks reaches customers with packs installed is what will show whether the swap concept scales.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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