SOUTHBURY — Gyre9, a product development firm that designs, engineers, and manufactures electric vehicle (EV) chargers was recently visited by Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal.

In addition to showing off the construction of EV chargers, this was a chance for Gyre9 to show off its new Southbury location, which it relocated to earlier this year from Oxford.

“We’re much more relevant here,” Gyre9 President Ed Gilchrest said of the new location.

“At our previous building we were packed in like sardines,” Gyre9 Vice President of Operations Wendy Gilchrest added.

Gilchrest told Blumenthal that the building, located at 1200 Main Street South, manufactured lipstick tubes in the 1940s and 50s. The location, now housing approximately 50 employees, is utilized for manufacturing of high tech items, and was needed to facilitate the growth of Gyre9. It is a large enough location, Gilchrest said, it should be able to grow considerably.

“My goal is for your business to grow so much you have to move again,” said Blumenthal.

Gyre9’s business is growing. Gilchrest said the business recently added two engineers. Among customers for its EV chargers are Westport Police Department and Verizon.

Blumenthal visited Gyre9 to highlight recent federal investments to expand EV infrastructure and incentivize consumers to purchase EVs, according to Ed Gilchrest.

Signed into law in August, the Inflation Reduction Act will provide billions in direct consumer rebates and tax credits for consumers who purchase electric vehicles. Under federal investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Connecticut is slated to receive $52 million in federal funding to expand EV charging infrastructure across the state, more than $18 million of which has already been released, greatly supporting manufacturing companies like Gyre9.

Gyre9 is working to design smaller EV charger boxes, as well as designing around current supply chain problems. Gilchrest was once part of the engineering design team, but now he’s managing the company full-time. Computer chips, in particular, have been a problem, according to Gilchrest, with a 52 week wait for the chips they originally used in the chargers.

“A 52 week wait means we go out of business,” said Gilchrest.

Gilchrest said Gyre9 has designed its own chips to put in the chargers.

“We’re a can do, scrappy place,” said Gilchrest. “We’ve evolved quickly.”

Blumenthal said places like Gyre9 are “the future of Connecticut.”

“This is the kind of manufacturing where Connecticut needs to go,” said Blumenthal. “This is not just a one-stop visit. I want to champion this kind of work.”

Blumenthal said it was exciting to see how the design process was working to make the boxes smaller and more efficient.

“It’s exciting to see manufacturing evolve through American ingenuity and brains.”

While not a single Republican voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, Blumenthal hoped to point his colleagues towards places like Gyre9 and make support for places like it “more bipartisan.”

Gyre9 is a product development company focused on the research, design, and engineering of complete market-ready solutions.

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Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.