Terawatt Infrastructure closes $300M bank facility to scale purpose-built AV/EV charging depot network across the U.S.
Terawatt Infrastructure, $300M RBC/SMBC/UBS facility, 24 Jun 2026; first commercial bank debt for AV/EV depot infrastructure, signalling bankability — cities face narrowing window to govern site selection
Headline Finding
Terawatt Infrastructure has closed a five-year senior secured credit facility of up to $300 million — $150 million committed with a $150 million incremental option — led by RBC Capital Markets with SMBC and UBS Investment Bank as co-arrangers, to acquire and develop purpose-built autonomous-vehicle and commercial-EV charging depots across the United States. The deal is described as the first commercial bank credit facility of its kind for AV/EV fleet infrastructure, signalling that institutional debt markets now treat AV charging depots as a bankable infrastructure asset class. This is material for the CAM governance thesis: as private capital races to lock up strategically located depot sites in high-demand urban markets, cities face a narrowing window to shape where, how, and on whose terms this foundational layer of the autonomous-mobility stack is built.
Detail
On 24 June 2026, Terawatt Infrastructure announced it had entered into a five-year facility for up to $150 million in committed senior secured financing, with an option for an incremental $150 million, bringing the total potential facility to $300 million. RBC Capital Markets served as sole structuring agent and coordinating lead arranger; SMBC served as coordinating lead arranger, administrative agent, and collateral agent; UBS Investment Bank served as coordinating lead arranger. Vinson & Elkins LLP acted as counsel to Terawatt, Milbank LLP as counsel to the lending group, and DNV Energy USA Inc. as technical advisor.
Terawatt describes itself as operating the nation’s largest network of purpose-built AV and commercial EV charging infrastructure, with customers including leading AV rideshare companies and heavy-duty fleets. The company claims to be the only market participant that owns and operates every layer of the charging infrastructure stack — real estate, power supply, charger hardware, power management software, and high-uptime charging operations — converting fleet operators’ capital expenditures into an operating expense.
The press release cites market projections that the global robotaxi market is expected to reach $415 billion by 2035, growing from roughly 7,000 vehicles in 2025 to 6 million vehicles in 2035. It further estimates, based on company and Bloomberg New Energy Finance data, that the infrastructure supporting this market in core rideshare markets could conservatively surpass approximately $200 billion in investment by 2040. RBC’s Managing Director and Head of Project Finance, Nanda Kamat, described Terawatt’s assets as ‘strategically located in high-demand urban markets’ and characterised EV/AV fleet charging as ‘an important strategic asset class.‘
Governance Implication
- ENERGY lever — private capital is now financing AV charging depot infrastructure at scale through conventional project-finance structures, meaning the energy infrastructure underpinning autonomous fleets is being locked into long-term private ownership before cities have established grid-interconnection requirements, vehicle-to-grid obligations, or depot-siting standards that could capture public value from these assets.
- REAL-ESTATE lever — Terawatt’s full-stack model, which bundles real estate ownership with power and software, creates path-dependency: once depot sites are acquired and financed under a 5-year senior secured facility, adaptive reuse or public recapture of those sites becomes legally and financially complex, reducing cities’ future spatial-allocation flexibility.
- FISCAL lever — the $200 billion infrastructure investment projection by 2040 represents a large private asset base that cities could, in principle, tax, fee, or value-capture through per-trip levies or curb-access charges; but without instruments in place now, that fiscal opportunity will accrue entirely to private investors and operators.
- PACING PROBLEM (two clocks) — the technology/deployment clock just moved: institutional debt markets have validated AV depot infrastructure as a bankable asset class, accelerating private build-out. The governance clock — city depot-siting rules, grid-interconnection mandates, data-sharing requirements, and value-capture instruments — has not kept pace, and the window to shape this infrastructure layer is closing as sites are acquired and financed.
- For cities and regulators, the instrument implication is urgent: performance-based permitting for depot development, charging-depot-siting standards tied to grid capacity and equity access, and fiscal instruments (per-trip fees, depot licensing fees) should be designed before the private network reaches the scale at which renegotiation becomes politically and legally prohibitive.