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Good morning, Grid Connections listeners.

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On the Grid Connections podcast, we explored the cutting edge of electric transportation,
clean energy, and how our electrical grid is tying all of it together.

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I'm your host, Chase.

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And today we have a returning guest who's been at the forefront of simplifying the EV
experience, Matt Teske, the founder of Chargeway.

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In this episode, we dive deep into how Chargeway is revolutionizing EV charging with its
user-friendly system designed to make EV charging as simple as filling up with gas.

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If not simpler.

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Matt shares incredible insights on how legacy automakers are struggling to adapt to the
world of electrification, the challenges of dealership EV sales, and how a ChargerWay's

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innovative solutions are making a real difference, both for drivers and dealers.

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We also get into the future of vehicle-to-grid technology, home energy storage, and how
ChargerWay is playing a crucial role in helping more people confidently make the switch to

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electric vehicles.

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This is an episode packed with valuable information for EV owners, potential buyers, and
really anyone interested in the future of clean energy.

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Before we get started though, I'd like to ask a favor.

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If you enjoy today's conversation with Matt Teske, share this episode with at least one
other person you think would appreciate it as well.

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And don't forget to leave us a pause review on your favorite podcast platform.

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Your reviews help more listeners discover the show and stay connected with the latest in
electric mobility.

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And with that.

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Enjoy.

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Can you just give us a quick little background on you and the great technology you guys
offer?

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Definitely.

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Well, Chase, great to see you again.

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Thanks for the invite.

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Yeah, Chargeway, again, Matt Teske, founder of Chargeway.

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And Chargeway is a software platform, and we focus on our mobile app for EV drivers to
simplify the EV charging experience.

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We take all of the engineering data and all of the car side, charging side, and we
translate that into simple colors for plug types and simple numbers for power levels so

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that you can choose whatever car you want.

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And then on the map, you see what aligns with your car based on plug type and plug color.

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and the power levels of each station so you know what your wait time will be based on all
the engineering by simply looking at a power level on the map.

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So at a quick glance, you can get a sense for, I can fill up in maybe 40 minutes at a
level six, or maybe an hour and a half at a level five, or maybe two hours at a level

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four.

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And that way, you can navigate the landscape more easily with your vehicle you've
selected.

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And it works all throughout North America.

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iOS and Android has a built-in trip planner that's automated and suggestion stops for you.

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You can filter it however you want to do it.

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We've got adapters included.

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So all the new adapters coming out for people that can go to different stations, such as
Superchargers, we're now GM, Rivian, and Ford.

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It's all built in.

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So we're just trying to make electric fuel easy for people.

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Yeah, no.

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I think that's, I mean, that's what you're, you've been talking about for so long really
is that focus on electric fuel and not thinking it was like, well, this is 150 kilowatt DC

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fast charger versus the seven kilowatt level two.

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And all of this kind of just technical fog, if you will, that makes the experience so much
more difficult for people trying to either new to electric vehicles or just even curious

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that without kind of what you guys are offering and really simplifying the

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That jump to electrification for a new buyer really can be kind of daunting if not Just
say you know what?

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I'm not gonna do it all together and so I think that's really what's been great about your
technology and just to see how it's evolved too and there's Obviously some new kind of

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things we're gonna talk about today with what you guys are offering But yeah, no, I think
I was even talked to someone a couple days ago about this with even all the electric

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automators kind of agreeing to Go to the North American charging standard.

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There's still so much need for

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figuring out like you're even talking about, we still have to deal with adapters and even
when five years from now or whenever that this has become fully integrated, I think

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there's still so much need for just around figuring out where it is and even looking at
the native infotainment and route planners really in electric vehicles today.

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think I was using one the other day and.

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The Tesla, it's really like you guys, Tesla, and that's about it as far as having a system
that really effectively works for route planning right now.

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Well, I love to be put in the same conversation as their software because they do do it
very well.

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But to your point, think that I had a conversation with this about this earlier today,
actually.

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The issue I think that's happening, especially from the legacy auto brand side is that,
you know, they they've built the cars with the big batteries in them.

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So now they're building electric cars.

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Right.

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But the software side is also not their prowess.

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So they are seeking out software support wherever and however they can.

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whether that's Volkswagen trying it internally with KeriAd and then finally switching over
to partner with, I'm sorry, with Rivian for Volkswagen side, but also brands like GM that

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are working with Google, for example, they're all going to wherever they think the
software can help make it happen for them.

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I think the Volkswagen Rivian connection will be, I think it will, in time will work out
pretty well, because Rivian is more of a brain trust around kind of the Tesla approach.

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There's a lot of Tesla alumni that are there.

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Yeah.

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But then you look at legacy brands like GM and working with Google, kind of have this
issue of GM knows they need a better software solution for in-vehicle software.

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And they're going to a very large scale software provider that has a lot of prowess in it.

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But you then have Google not really living out the fact that they're building software for
cars.

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They're building software for a lot of things.

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So it's not necessarily that they fully understand what needs to be built.

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and they were kind of expecting GM to translate to them or other automakers to say, no,
no, no, we need it to do this, you know, and GM and other legacy brands, they may, may

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not.

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mean, I just don't see that they necessarily fully understand that because we're still
seeing things like, like Ford's announcement this last week of, okay, we've got a brand

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new announcement about charging again, and we're just going to install your home charger
for you and it's going to be free.

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And then we've got the blue oval network still.

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It's amazing.

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And we've got roadside, I was looking at the four talking points that were posted with
that announcement.

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I was kind of like, okay.

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And I thought, sure, this shouldn't, just have been a thing from day one that you were
focusing on.

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But I think it was kind of more evidence around the fact that when it comes to charging,
whether we're talking software or strategy around how we communicated to buyers, there's

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just still a ton of gaps that are not fully yet understood, I think from the legacy world.

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So yeah.

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No, and I think, yeah, I'm really curious to see mentioning the Ford rollout, how that's
going to happen, because I think it definitely has a lot of good potential and there's a

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lot of great things there, including, but it also kind of shows to me like kind of what
you've alluded to some of the gaps still in that knowledge, like, well, it's charging and

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there's home charging.

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Let's just find a partnership.

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Someone else will do it.

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Then it's taken care of.

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Then they'll buy these electric vehicles.

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Right.

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Versus kind of like flipping the mentality around like, okay,

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or even really just trying to figure out that first principles and going to what is the
problem and figuring out what that truly is before you try to solve it.

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Well, that's a great point.

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I think the first principles idea that you just mentioned, I mean, think the, as we've
been saying, I've been, know, charge has been saying, and I've been saying for what now is

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like the better part of a decade is, you know, it is about the new fueling experience and
how it aligns with the vehicle you select and the lifestyle that you have and how you make

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it simple for people to naturally get themselves into that.

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And I think this, you know, the announcement from Ford is, think is another example of the
disconnect that the automakers are having with how they're being able to train and

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leverage the dealers to do a lot of this work on their behalf.

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And, you know, the dealers, you know, there's from the dealer side, there's been, you
know, some elements of, embracing EVs.

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There's been some elements of them saying, you know, no, mean, and again, from rooftop to
rooftop, it can differ obviously, you know, showroom to showroom.

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I think that is going to still be something that the legacy brands, you know, this is just
an example through Ford of just saying, we are going to like smooth the runway so much to

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say, we'll pay for it.

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We'll just do it.

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If you have a home, we'll just take care of it.

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We don't even care anymore.

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And that's all that has to be translated to the showroom.

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think that's just an example of a legacy brand saying, we're just having to resolve some
of these hangups for people saying yes to our products.

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But I still come back to the fact that, you know, if people don't realize there's another
fuel option out there and they're not thinking of, want to buy a car that runs on

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electricity because of the benefits around that, then we're still going to have a lot of
vehicles sitting at lots now because we've moved beyond the early adopters that did all

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their homework.

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We are now hitting that chasm and.

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in adoption curve.

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so that's, I think something that, we're just going to, until we address this to your
point, until we ask, what is the problem and address it correctly.

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Again, I, I watch football all the time.

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I don't see an ad for electric fuel, but boy, do I see fossil fuel commercials.

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I mean, there you go.

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So, I mean, I don't know.

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I feel like a broken record at this point, but damn it.

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think I'm right.

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Well, I think what's also really interesting about that is I think just looking at legacy
automaker There's such a big disconnect I think between the boardroom and then the actual

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engineering of the vehicle still it's gone better But like I think a great example of that
was kind of just the North American Charging standard Announcements that were kind of

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executed by these legacy car companies a little over a year ago now saying just like you
know what?

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If the CCS thinks the issue is hell with it, we'll just go do what Tesla is doing and
that'll solve the problem, And then it would kind of cut off all these engineers actually

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building the product, say, wait, what?

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Off guard.

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I've heard that I've heard those stories from people that are inside the some auto brands
saying we had no knowledge of this.

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We read the press release just like you did.

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And we're like, we decided what you know.

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yeah, that was again, that was a bit of I mean, again, I will give credit to Jim Farley,
you know, for basically just saying, look, I finally realized I need to address this and

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what that then did on behalf of incentivizing and encouraging others to do the same.

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So

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Again, my opinion is Tesla's plug design here in North America, without a doubt, is more
elegant than anything else out there.

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It's simple, it's lightweight, it's the same at home, away from home.

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mean, the beauty of design in that respect was designed for people.

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It wasn't an engineering solution that then was handed to people.

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So I think that's a good thing.

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But the problem, to your point, is the knee jerk, we'll just do this.

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It didn't take into consideration other elements of, okay,

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because of software in the background, how do we explain that not every supercharger is
accessible via these adapters?

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How do we contend with the fact that the plug, know, the connector ports on these vehicles
are not uniform and so we're blocking chargers if an F-150 pulls up?

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I mean, it just feels like, you know, it's designed chaos still in some ways, even though
on paper it sounds like it was a better decision and I think it'll prove to be, but it's

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gonna be some pain along the way, so.

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When I think the next part of that I was going to go is not only do you have this kind of
design, I like that design chaos internally at the organization, but then you have the

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dealership level of it.

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And I do agree with you where it's like, I've even had some recent experiences with
dealerships and I, be honest with you, I thought the sales people themselves were nice,

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great and understanding.

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anytime I asked about electric vehicles, they wanted nothing to do with it.

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partially.

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Understandably they have a quota they like there's there isn't a huge incentive for them
to go down that path to ask all these questions to figure it out Whereas they know they

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can just kind of huck the combustion vehicle but the part that really surprised me too
that just was this another level of I think just in the realm of EVs and EV charging the

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old saying of like the path to hell or the path to hell is paved with good intentions

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yeah.

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of the things they were talking about was just like these EV incentives where they're just
like well this one qualifies for 3750 this one doesn't qualify at all they qualify if

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you've leased them and so there's just like all this like Well intended things that really
make at the end of the day for a lot of dealerships now that it doesn't happen But I mean

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when you're the salesperson that has to had a quo vote by it Quoted by the end of the
month or they lose their job or whatever.

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It's just like okay I'm just gonna sell this combustion engine vehicle because I know

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they'll at least understand I can go on the next thing.

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Yeah, no, I mean, you're very correct in that.

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Again, the incentive piece and how it was designed, again, how the politicians got
involved with this in the last few years around reimagining the federal rebate and things

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of that nature.

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Again, best of intentions.

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They wanted to, on one hand, maintain giving a financial benefit to consumers.

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On the other hand, they wanted to incentivize automakers domestically to produce, mine for
minerals and do all that stuff in North America to encourage job development inside the EV

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world.

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all great with intention.

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But yeah, to your point, it's like, how does that translate to a sales experience and an
ownership experience?

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And the answer is, in both cases, it's like, well, this still is not working out in a way
that people are going, yay.

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So, you know, I, I don't know.

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mean, like, I feel like I've had this conversation with you and others in the industry so
many times, where, and there's, and there's, and there's no easy fix to it, aside from

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admitting when you've got a problem.

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You know, I mean, so to that example for a conversation we just had about like the Naxx
connector, that was the legacy automakers admitting they had a problem as it related to

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ease of access to electricity as a fuel type away from home.

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And that's why they said, we'll just wave a white flag and embrace Tesla's approach.

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It then forced the rest of the industry and every other network and hardware manufacturer
to say, all right, well, now we have to add the Tesla connector to all of our stuff.

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Otherwise we're going to become antiquated immediately.

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It then blends into the adapter conversation for, God, how long is that going to last?

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And if you ask someone like Gabe Klein at the joint office, I think it was like a year ago
now, he did an internal video with, with, where Steve Lommel, one of the guys at the joint

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office, they were chatting about some of these challenges and Gabe just said, goes, yeah,
adapters are a part of the EV ownership experience in North America for the foreseeable

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future.

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You know, it's just like, that's the casual of saying like, yeah, this is a decades long
issue that doesn't solve itself overnight.

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So no, it's, it's, there's no easy answer right now.

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And I think it concerns me is the fact that.

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The old cliche, if you never get a second chance to make a first impression, we have a lot
of the public right now that has just been hearing nothing about nothing, but things about

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EVs for the last three, four or five years.

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And have we lived up to that hype, whether it's automakers or charging or you name it.

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And there's a lot of people that have basically called the industry's bluff and said, I
don't think you were ready.

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And in reality, the product is ready in so many ways based on who you are and where you
live.

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could really meet your need in a very

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elegant way.

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But that hasn't been the narrative.

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We've just been approaching selling cars the same way we always have.

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It's like, guys, that's not how we can do this now.

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So I think we're in some ways, I think the industry has been shooting itself in the foot a
little bit.

192
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And we've got to pivot and change some ways about how we're approaching go to market
strategy, communicating it to the public.

193
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You know, that's that's what charge was about.

194
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Like we've been saying that for a long time.

195
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segue.

196
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I'll give a shameless pitch to Chargeway.

197
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So I know you guys are working on a lot of new things like Chargeway Plus program.

198
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But I think what is really cool is you guys are much more than just an app Obviously, you
do a lot of work with dealerships and kind of getting beacons in the stores.

199
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So maybe you can kind of share, anyone that might not be familiar with what your work
there has been at Chargeway and what that can help accomplish with these difficult

200
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conversations.

201
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Well, the first thing we identified five years ago was, if the pain point is we got to
help people understand how to buy these and also sell them, these being electric cars.

202
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And the biggest challenge was explaining charging.

203
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So the Chargeway software platform is designed to really live in the customer journey.

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So we can put our solution on a dealer website, on a utility website, and show that if you
choose this car, we make it easy for you to see where you charge, how you charge, plan a

205
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road trip, et cetera.

206
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But that same solution can then live in a showroom at a dealership in a kiosk format.

207
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And then the same solution can be downloaded in your pocket on an iPhone or an Android
phone.

208
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And that means that you keep a consistent visualization, explanation, and experience
through the process of hopping through the hoops of, I finally buy the car?

209
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And so the retail experience and the kiosk, the beacon, as we call it, is really meant to
be an electric fuel sales expert on the showroom floor at any showroom.

210
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that's dedicated to that brand of vehicle.

211
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So if you're in a Volkswagen showroom, it showcases how that works for Volkswagen EVs.

212
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If you're in a Chevy showroom, same thing.

213
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And we've had a lot of success getting it into showrooms and training and showing dealer
sales reps.

214
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Look, if you get this question, here's your response.

215
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You get this question, here's your response.

216
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We had a great quote given to us the other day.

217
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We have a program in the state of Michigan that was funded through the state of Michigan
and working with utilities in the state.

218
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to deploy beacons into showrooms throughout the state to get different feedback from
different buying geographic areas.

219
00:16:44,661 --> 00:16:51,454
And one of the people from the program went and visited a dealership that has a beacon and
they had recently been trained.

220
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And at the end of the conversation, this person from the state of Michigan said, I have to
be perfectly honest with you.

221
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At the end of it, it was very clear that that sales rep had really leveraged that tool in
their sales experience and the sales process rather.

222
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And by the end of it, I was convinced like I could buy this car.

223
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And I said,

224
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Yeah.

225
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That's the point.

226
00:17:09,146 --> 00:17:17,430
so their response was no, you can tell that sales rep loved using it because it did answer
questions easily, visually, and it made it so that I can feel confident.

227
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And so that is it.

228
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That's where we are at.

229
00:17:20,381 --> 00:17:26,834
But as a small company, we have to find the right partners to help us distribute that
solution as far and wide as we can.

230
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Utilities have been a great partner in that process.

231
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Obviously states where we've had been able to get grants have been a great part of that
process.

232
00:17:32,685 --> 00:17:39,991
But the end of the day, the beacon and the mobile app are designed to show you where you
can charge the vehicle you've selected, how long it'll take, and make it simple to

233
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navigate all that design chaos we were talking about.

234
00:17:42,538 --> 00:17:51,306
No, I think it's such a really cool technology because for like the dealership experience
and especially for dealer salespeople in dealerships, it's almost kind of like an electric

235
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vehicle Rosetta Stone sort of thing where it really does translate a lot of these
different ideas and makes it.

236
00:17:57,522 --> 00:18:03,688
And I mean, for me, even personally being a visual person, I really like that it is not
just like another flyer.

237
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You can kind of tap the screen and it kind of just starts kind of changing these.

238
00:18:08,300 --> 00:18:12,958
It's just another level to engage with and really is kind of a helpful sales tool.

239
00:18:13,016 --> 00:18:17,736
Well, the idea is car salespeople, know how to sell the benefits of a car.

240
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They really do.

241
00:18:18,666 --> 00:18:24,037
mean, that's why car sales, they've been around for a long time and people get into it and
can be very successful professionally.

242
00:18:24,037 --> 00:18:25,997
That's the catch though, is they're not selling cars anymore.

243
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They're selling a new fueling experience and no one told them that.

244
00:18:28,778 --> 00:18:38,718
And the automakers in their attempt to address it, whether it was GM having their GM EV
live website where you could get a walkthrough with something, I did that a few times just

245
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to see what it was like.

246
00:18:39,946 --> 00:18:49,700
And you can just tell that it's an automakers approach to trying to explain something
complicated by kind of glossing over the realities of why it's complicated, trying to make

247
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it feel like it's good.

248
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And in reality, it's like, yeah, but you're, you're.

249
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Yeah.

250
00:18:54,642 --> 00:18:58,665
Kind of like, and I mean, I would just, I was, and these are loaded questions.

251
00:18:58,705 --> 00:18:59,506
Right.

252
00:18:59,506 --> 00:18:59,916
Right.

253
00:18:59,916 --> 00:19:04,228
It's just like guys, it's well, the Apple product is a closed ecosystem in the way that
Tesla is.

254
00:19:04,228 --> 00:19:06,849
And so that's what made the Tesla experience so great.

255
00:19:06,849 --> 00:19:07,909
And I think that.

256
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That's a software minded approach to the product development.

257
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:19,294
no, I I still think we have, without a doubt, the most effective software and strategy for
communication for how to explain charging without question.

258
00:19:19,414 --> 00:19:24,597
We're just finally to a place, I think, where the rest of the industry is finally starting
to really feel that pain.

259
00:19:24,597 --> 00:19:27,828
And they're like, got to keep figuring this out.

260
00:19:27,828 --> 00:19:34,619
And we've had more just natural interest from stakeholders contacting us this year who
have said,

261
00:19:34,619 --> 00:19:42,038
We think that you have the right strategy and your comment about charge me being the
Rosetta stone of the industry in that way.

262
00:19:42,038 --> 00:19:44,501
My brother said the same thing to me years ago.

263
00:19:44,501 --> 00:19:50,688
He said, you literally have developed out like the Rosetta stone of energy when it comes
to using it as a fuel for cars.

264
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And so I appreciate hearing that again.

265
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I mean, it lets us know we're on the right path.

266
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Yeah, I think what's really interesting, mean, just kind of stay on that topic.

267
00:19:57,966 --> 00:20:09,105
Obviously there is the some of those Wall Street pressure, I guess that these big auto
companies were getting and looking at kind of Tesla success among others and looking at

268
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that platform idea where it's like, you can have a car, you can have a solar on your house
that powers the car and then you have just a battery at home that we can also make and

269
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sell to you.

270
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This seems like we're just going to be printing money and this is just an awesome
opportunity.

271
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Let's do this too.

272
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And I think there's a reason it's also taken Tesla so long to scale all this stuff because
there is a lot of even just for example, and I believe you got a solar system on your

273
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home, I believe, right?

274
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Just how different every house is, how every house is wired in a different way and how if
you're trying to get even a solar system work on it, let alone those systems to

275
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communicate.

276
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And then you take it the next level where you want to have like a vehicle to grid or
vehicle to home solution.

277
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And it's going to be wickedly expensive unless you kind of know what you're doing.

278
00:20:57,973 --> 00:21:05,910
And I think that was part of reason Tesla took so long to actually kind of market with a
vehicle to home solution, because it is, unless you have something really simple and cost

279
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effective, it's a pretty expensive proposition.

280
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It sounds great on paper, the idea to back up your home whenever.

281
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But for a lot of them, kind of the approaches that we've seen, it has been

282
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easily a $10,000 especially if you need like a panel upgrade or anything like that to go
to that kind of backup unfortunately.

283
00:21:23,236 --> 00:21:30,618
Well, and everything you just described is the problem that the promise of the EV is.

284
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Is the problem.

285
00:21:32,319 --> 00:21:32,889
Yeah.

286
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Right.

287
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Yeah.

288
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And what most people.

289
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Yeah.

290
00:21:37,250 --> 00:21:39,568
Well, that's the problem is the assumptions like, yeah, it'll just work out.

291
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it's like, well, we don't have any evidence of that yet.

292
00:21:41,701 --> 00:21:50,114
And I think that a big part of that issue is we have a population, like a general public,
that they're not really educated in how energy or electricity works.

293
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They just have been.

294
00:21:51,542 --> 00:21:54,174
on the receiving end of the fact that industry has made it work.

295
00:21:54,174 --> 00:22:01,338
And so for 100 years, it's like, I flipped the switch, light goes on, I have a TV, I have
a computer now that's all powered by this stuff.

296
00:22:01,338 --> 00:22:02,789
Hey, isn't that great?

297
00:22:02,789 --> 00:22:05,141
And all I have to do is pay a bill every month that I don't like paying.

298
00:22:05,141 --> 00:22:07,162
And that's how they think of energy.

299
00:22:07,162 --> 00:22:08,183
They don't actually understand.

300
00:22:08,183 --> 00:22:17,708
I mean, what was the there was a Netflix special who was Zach Efron, I think, or whoever
it was, it was him and somebody else like going around and seeing different parts of the

301
00:22:17,708 --> 00:22:18,757
world and how

302
00:22:18,757 --> 00:22:22,037
you know, how they were managing natural resources and everything else.

303
00:22:22,037 --> 00:22:28,617
And there was this one episode about they were in Iceland and it was a whole plant about
how they manage their energy.

304
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And he was and they were explaining how it all helped electricity in the country.

305
00:22:31,997 --> 00:22:35,017
He goes, I got to be honest, to me, electricity is just magic.

306
00:22:35,017 --> 00:22:36,827
Like I don't understand how it works, you know.

307
00:22:36,827 --> 00:22:42,757
And I thought to myself, yeah, that's that's how most people do think about it is they
don't really comprehend how it works.

308
00:22:42,757 --> 00:22:44,157
And so that's the issue.

309
00:22:44,157 --> 00:22:48,861
We're trying to get people to embrace buying products that reimagine their engagement with
a product they've never thought of.

310
00:22:49,417 --> 00:22:52,588
And Tesla, they did make a pretty good ecosystem around that.

311
00:22:52,588 --> 00:22:53,339
did.

312
00:22:53,339 --> 00:22:58,121
I think to your point, I think they didn't jump the gun on the Vita X opportunity.

313
00:22:58,121 --> 00:23:00,582
On one hand, they could make money selling batteries at home.

314
00:23:00,582 --> 00:23:01,342
You know, I get that.

315
00:23:01,342 --> 00:23:02,723
That's, that's capitalism.

316
00:23:02,723 --> 00:23:11,156
But on the other side of it too, I think that what Ford encountered is what Tesla kind of
imagined, which was, yes, you can say that your vehicle can be your backup, but that means

317
00:23:11,156 --> 00:23:13,987
your vehicle goes from being a vehicle to just being a battery.

318
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That's it.

319
00:23:15,268 --> 00:23:18,821
And so the idea of then having to hook that up, causing

320
00:23:18,821 --> 00:23:21,643
10 grand or 20 grand for home upgrades.

321
00:23:21,643 --> 00:23:29,187
At that point, it's like, why not just buy home solar and home batteries and still have
your vehicle as maybe additional backup, it's still just a vehicle.

322
00:23:29,187 --> 00:23:31,843
So yeah, there's a lot of that to still unpack.

323
00:23:31,843 --> 00:23:33,105
and I think you're spot on.

324
00:23:33,105 --> 00:23:43,721
think it's just so interesting because there have been well-intentioned, guess, advocates
and people interested in doing like vehicle to home, vehicle to grid stuff.

325
00:23:43,741 --> 00:23:53,366
yeah, Tesla, know that, and not to like just keep pushing that, know there's, believe
Rivian's going to do this with some of their next-gen vehicles, but go to an AC-based

326
00:23:53,927 --> 00:23:58,091
vehicle to grid system versus kind of this DC system we've seen with Ford and others.

327
00:23:58,091 --> 00:23:58,575
Yeah.

328
00:23:58,575 --> 00:24:02,276
requires so many more home upgrades that has really made it expensive.

329
00:24:02,276 --> 00:24:10,349
Whereas with the Tesla solution, it's like a sub thousand dollar gateway that they put in
and then it just talks with the panel and keeps it a lot simpler.

330
00:24:10,569 --> 00:24:12,359
And I think it's just kind of that thing.

331
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:13,260
And you're totally right.

332
00:24:13,260 --> 00:24:14,910
You can sell more batteries.

333
00:24:14,910 --> 00:24:24,013
But what this does also finally unlock, and I mean, I'm personally interested in is like,
OK, I don't even buy seven batteries if I can get it to work in my car.

334
00:24:24,039 --> 00:24:30,596
I'm okay to buy one or two when I want to drive the car around and then it's the car's
kind main thing, but that's a whole nother discussion.

335
00:24:30,596 --> 00:24:32,627
that strategy is, think, exactly how I view it.

336
00:24:32,627 --> 00:24:34,820
mean, my wife and I have home batteries at our house.

337
00:24:34,820 --> 00:24:40,925
And if inevitably we can unlock our cars to be a supplement to that as well, that's just
gravy.

338
00:24:40,925 --> 00:24:46,691
But otherwise, we're off grid here in Portland, where we're based, we're off grid like
six, seven months out of the year.

339
00:24:46,691 --> 00:24:49,583
We just solely rely on our solar and home batteries, which is amazing.

340
00:24:49,583 --> 00:24:50,734
We're in Portland.

341
00:24:50,734 --> 00:24:52,316
Imagine if we lived in Scottsdale.

342
00:24:52,316 --> 00:24:53,336
Right.

343
00:24:53,956 --> 00:24:55,427
Yeah, I mean, what is it?

344
00:24:55,427 --> 00:25:08,671
Germany always gets like this was a stat I learned years ago, but it was like Germany was
getting like 30 to 40 percent of their energy from solar and their most sunny spot is

345
00:25:08,671 --> 00:25:17,693
still less than than the least sunny spot of Oregon, which is Astoria, Oregon, and that
they were still able to get so much solar that kind of just tells me like

346
00:25:17,693 --> 00:25:25,433
There's a lot that need to be figured out in that realm too, but it can work just about
anywhere when priced right and kind of figure it out.

347
00:25:25,843 --> 00:25:26,413
no, without a doubt.

348
00:25:26,413 --> 00:25:27,233
mean, that's solar.

349
00:25:27,233 --> 00:25:35,126
mean, again, you've heard people like Elon say it over the years, but there's been plenty
of other people saying it longer than him, which is there's this gigantic energy source

350
00:25:35,126 --> 00:25:35,996
just hanging out every day.

351
00:25:35,996 --> 00:25:38,267
And we can draw from it.

352
00:25:38,267 --> 00:25:39,227
Pretty simple.

353
00:25:39,227 --> 00:25:47,729
think energy storage was the was really the breakthrough on how we could really position
that from, you know, a personal experience for people.

354
00:25:47,729 --> 00:25:54,863
And that's why I referenced the concept of energy ownership moving forward here in in the
US and beyond.

355
00:25:54,863 --> 00:26:03,020
where you have to help people see that they can kind of, especially if they're homeowners,
renters, maybe not so much, but homeowners, they can be in many ways, you the master of

356
00:26:03,020 --> 00:26:12,768
their own destiny around how much are we controlling our energy and what does that create
for our confidence in either lifetime of, you know, cost savings or energy backup in case

357
00:26:12,768 --> 00:26:20,595
things happen with the grid, as we just saw, you know, with Hurricane Helene and how
devastating that was across multiple states, that is going to be something that people are

358
00:26:20,595 --> 00:26:22,963
going to have to start actively thinking about.

359
00:26:22,963 --> 00:26:24,124
But then who is marketing this stuff?

360
00:26:24,124 --> 00:26:25,195
Is it automakers?

361
00:26:25,195 --> 00:26:26,556
Is it utilities?

362
00:26:26,556 --> 00:26:34,381
Well, not really because the PUCs have made it clear that utilities can't just go and say,
hey, buy this product.

363
00:26:34,381 --> 00:26:41,146
And so there's a lot of bureaucratic hangups, legacy hangups around messaging,
conditioning around the population about how they've been using products.

364
00:26:41,146 --> 00:26:44,379
There's a lot we're working through right now as an industry when it comes to clean
energy.

365
00:26:44,379 --> 00:26:47,159
Yeah, and I think that is kind of one of those things.

366
00:26:47,879 --> 00:26:51,589
I'll change the subject here just because it does seem like we keep coming back to the
same thing.

367
00:26:51,589 --> 00:26:52,479
Like we don't know.

368
00:26:52,479 --> 00:26:56,909
We don't know what the answer is and it's not great, but it is slowly improving.

369
00:26:56,909 --> 00:27:08,179
And I think what is really interesting is this is just kind of another example of and once
again is not to like focus on Ford in negative way.

370
00:27:08,179 --> 00:27:13,637
But when they started doing these kind of vehicle to grid things, they partnered with Sun
Run, which does a lot of solar and

371
00:27:13,637 --> 00:27:14,778
home battery backup stuff.

372
00:27:14,778 --> 00:27:17,229
So it seems like that'd be a great partnership.

373
00:27:17,389 --> 00:27:18,850
And I think it's probably changed.

374
00:27:18,850 --> 00:27:21,651
But yeah, it was pretty clear early on at least.

375
00:27:22,092 --> 00:27:27,074
They ran into a lot of issues with trying to get both these systems to talk together.

376
00:27:27,147 --> 00:27:37,602
And it's not just like, we're the auto industry, we've been able to work with using
contractors and parts suppliers for years, we'll just find our own supplier for solar and

377
00:27:37,602 --> 00:27:38,682
it'll be fine.

378
00:27:38,682 --> 00:27:41,958
And it kind of is just that unfortunate.

379
00:27:41,958 --> 00:27:52,713
kind of wall that a lot of these companies keep running into around just like a lot more
of this has to be done either in either done internally or have a clear plan of how to

380
00:27:52,713 --> 00:28:01,617
execute it internally and so when you do go to suppliers and like like you're kind of
saying with Google and the software side you have a clear message that you can say this is

381
00:28:01,617 --> 00:28:08,900
what we need we know we can't do it but we need you to build it and if you don't have that
then you do kind of run this cyclical issue

382
00:28:09,152 --> 00:28:18,440
I think what you're defining there is if you don't have a vision for the product
experience and you're the decision maker around that, well, then if you just decided to do

383
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:26,026
a parts bin approach or a partnership approach that you think is gluing together what
you're trying to replicate, which is what you're seeing the competition do.

384
00:28:26,127 --> 00:28:33,093
Yeah, you're not going to create an end game for consumers where they'll say, wow, this
was really well executed or really well thought out.

385
00:28:33,093 --> 00:28:36,614
They're going to have pain points that will make them say, I wish I hadn't done this.

386
00:28:36,614 --> 00:28:41,167
And that's the last thing you need because then inevitably you create a skeptical buyer in
the future.

387
00:28:41,167 --> 00:28:45,020
And I think that that is the, that's the biggest, the biggest challenge right now.

388
00:28:45,020 --> 00:28:53,846
And a big issue and risk right now for the EV industry is we are trying to get product in
the hands of the public and we're trying to translate the value proposition, beyond just

389
00:28:53,846 --> 00:28:56,648
financial and whatever ways that make people feel comfortable and confident.

390
00:28:56,648 --> 00:29:01,251
But we are, we don't have the best go to market strategy for every brand out there.

391
00:29:01,251 --> 00:29:05,714
It is unfortunately creating some product skepticism based on experience.

392
00:29:05,715 --> 00:29:08,366
and that's where, you know, again, we just need to, exactly.

393
00:29:08,366 --> 00:29:08,607
said it.

394
00:29:08,607 --> 00:29:12,148
We just need a better strategy on what the vision is as opposed to we just gotta.

395
00:29:12,148 --> 00:29:20,532
And I think there's been billions spent now on the, just gotta, as you said, you're like,
these people that were making these decisions in these boardrooms, cause they're like,

396
00:29:20,532 --> 00:29:21,355
look what the competition is.

397
00:29:21,355 --> 00:29:23,223
Do we got to meet and match that?

398
00:29:23,223 --> 00:29:29,517
And, and I, I mean, I recently was on another podcast and they had another conversation
with us where I said, wait a minute.

399
00:29:29,517 --> 00:29:30,968
So Jim Farley.

400
00:29:31,416 --> 00:29:36,576
As an example, I credit him for saying we got to make a switch around our charging
experience publicly.

401
00:29:36,576 --> 00:29:39,146
But the way that it was framed was I was out with my family.

402
00:29:39,146 --> 00:29:45,156
We're on a road trip with one of our Ford electric vehicles and we're just we were just
not having the best of time figuring out the charging experience.

403
00:29:45,156 --> 00:29:47,316
But my kid pointed out, look at the Tesla thing.

404
00:29:47,316 --> 00:29:48,176
It seems to be easier for them.

405
00:29:48,176 --> 00:29:49,576
He's like, gosh, yeah, you know what?

406
00:29:49,576 --> 00:29:49,926
You're right.

407
00:29:49,926 --> 00:29:51,046
Let's just try to partner with them.

408
00:29:51,046 --> 00:29:53,456
I remember saying I was like, wait a minute.

409
00:29:53,876 --> 00:29:55,894
That's when you had that moment.

410
00:29:55,956 --> 00:30:00,527
Like you've spent billions of dollars on this product development and that's when you had
that moment.

411
00:30:00,527 --> 00:30:03,755
And that was very, that just shocked me, frankly.

412
00:30:03,755 --> 00:30:04,924
That bowled me over.

413
00:30:04,924 --> 00:30:11,277
I think, I mean, and maybe that's just a fun example or kind of like, because I've heard
that same story too.

414
00:30:11,277 --> 00:30:12,615
And I kind of got the same thing.

415
00:30:12,615 --> 00:30:21,132
And I was like, well, maybe that's, I don't know, maybe just sounds better than our
analysts showed me all the state and we'd realize we have to do this.

416
00:30:21,132 --> 00:30:30,126
no, I think that's another thing that we unfortunately talk about a lot on this show where
you have people making decisions and not just even in

417
00:30:30,794 --> 00:30:35,678
companies, but just like around policy that don't actually drive electric vehicles.

418
00:30:35,839 --> 00:30:40,834
And so it can be so puzzling from the outside in of like, doesn't this just work?

419
00:30:40,834 --> 00:30:42,145
Or it's we're just plugging.

420
00:30:42,145 --> 00:30:44,207
It's literally just plugging something like I do my phone.

421
00:30:44,207 --> 00:30:45,527
Why doesn't that work?

422
00:30:45,788 --> 00:30:46,998
And it really does.

423
00:30:46,998 --> 00:30:56,404
You really do need that day to day, maybe pain of trying to do it yourself to realize how
big of an issue and how serious this is to be solved correctly.

424
00:30:56,404 --> 00:31:04,777
Yeah, no, that's so important that you have to have a lived experience with the product
that you're trying to get the mass market to buy.

425
00:31:04,777 --> 00:31:12,769
but in again, as I said, like with regards to like, Jim Farley and Ford, on one hand, I
give them full credit for having the self awareness and actually having the balls as a CEO

426
00:31:12,769 --> 00:31:16,200
of a major company to go pivot, pivot, we're making a pivot.

427
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,980
But then on the other hand, I'm like, why on earth did it require that?

428
00:31:18,980 --> 00:31:24,878
Like, how is it you didn't have the team or again, and I think it's your point is the
living it out.

429
00:31:24,878 --> 00:31:31,322
And I think that that's because they were approaching and how they always have a product
development, which is we make cars and trucks.

430
00:31:31,322 --> 00:31:34,803
We build them in the way that we think is going to be marketable to the public.

431
00:31:34,803 --> 00:31:37,565
We've heard that electric vehicles are the future.

432
00:31:37,565 --> 00:31:40,067
We've been mandated in some ways, so let's figure it out.

433
00:31:40,067 --> 00:31:45,350
And so their approach was how they've always done it, which is drawing board, get the
vehicle designed.

434
00:31:45,350 --> 00:31:46,810
Now we got to put a big battery in it.

435
00:31:46,810 --> 00:31:47,881
Where do we get the software from?

436
00:31:47,881 --> 00:31:49,692
We source it as we always have.

437
00:31:49,692 --> 00:31:53,850
And then like when Mary Barra was interviewed now seven years ago, when the bolt came out.

438
00:31:53,850 --> 00:31:56,111
And was asked, what's your plan for infrastructure?

439
00:31:56,111 --> 00:31:58,653
And on that day, she said, we don't do that.

440
00:31:58,653 --> 00:32:00,244
Now their tune has obviously changed.

441
00:32:00,244 --> 00:32:02,515
They got partnerships with EB go and go down the list.

442
00:32:02,515 --> 00:32:06,537
But the fact that there was not, again, this gets back to the vision point.

443
00:32:06,537 --> 00:32:11,000
There was no one internally that was embracing the vision of that evolution.

444
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,102
They were, and still are being very reactionary.

445
00:32:14,102 --> 00:32:20,833
And this is where, you know, people like John, macro who's been on your podcast before,
and I enjoy chatting with him, hearing him explain.

446
00:32:20,833 --> 00:32:28,505
what he sees and product differences between like what he's testing from China and what
he's seeing domestically or from Europe and how he's just like, you can tell there's a

447
00:32:28,505 --> 00:32:29,696
different vision here.

448
00:32:29,696 --> 00:32:31,266
You can just tell they understand it differently.

449
00:32:31,266 --> 00:32:39,398
And I think that that you then couple that with the fact that we now have tariffs keeping
the public from experiencing these products.

450
00:32:39,398 --> 00:32:48,721
And I think, yeah, the American public is going to be sheltered and insulated from maybe
seeing what the future of their energy and transportation world can be.

451
00:32:49,037 --> 00:32:54,055
because of these things and I don't think that's the right path forward to keep domestic
brands competitive.

452
00:32:54,055 --> 00:32:55,821
I don't think it's a good strategy.

453
00:32:55,821 --> 00:32:57,181
sure.

454
00:32:57,261 --> 00:33:04,761
No, I agree with there and that I guess that's kind of an interesting thing that we talked
about a little bit before the show was just kind of the scale back we're now seeing

455
00:33:04,761 --> 00:33:08,181
indirectly kind of with the tariffs too.

456
00:33:08,181 --> 00:33:18,021
But yeah, the scale back from OEMs and I'd be just kind of curious maybe what you're
seeing in that regards or just what even your thoughts are about that right now.

457
00:33:18,845 --> 00:33:28,212
I think the tariffs that we're seeing are with kind of, again, with the path the hell is
laid, with pay with the best of intentions kind of thing.

458
00:33:28,212 --> 00:33:37,658
We're looking at a situation by which policy has been driving a lot of these decisions
around, how are we trying to help industry create jobs, compete, improve?

459
00:33:37,658 --> 00:33:46,415
But if industry is not embracing those policies and saying, we do want to compete, we do
want to improve, we do want to evolve, I think that the pullback we're seeing is based on

460
00:33:46,415 --> 00:33:47,131
the fact

461
00:33:47,131 --> 00:33:48,252
On one hand, they're being protected.

462
00:33:48,252 --> 00:33:51,766
They don't really need to be as competitive as they should be.

463
00:33:51,766 --> 00:33:59,282
And on the other hand, they're looking at it saying, well, practically speaking, what's
happening at our showrooms where we're trying to sell these products and we're starting to

464
00:33:59,282 --> 00:34:04,076
see that EVs are starting to pile up at showrooms and we're seeing various brands talk
about it.

465
00:34:04,076 --> 00:34:05,106
Let's be very clear, though.

466
00:34:05,106 --> 00:34:08,139
EV sales are still going up.

467
00:34:08,139 --> 00:34:09,550
I mean, they're not flatlining.

468
00:34:09,550 --> 00:34:10,471
They're not going down.

469
00:34:10,471 --> 00:34:15,205
They're just not this crazy spike of a sale that I think some people might have
anticipated.

470
00:34:15,205 --> 00:34:16,072
Yeah.

471
00:34:16,072 --> 00:34:16,559
Yeah.

472
00:34:16,559 --> 00:34:17,250
seeing sales.

473
00:34:17,250 --> 00:34:22,575
again, if you're in an urban city center, you're seeing the fact that, there's more EVs
and more models on the road.

474
00:34:22,575 --> 00:34:23,746
Variety's hitting more.

475
00:34:23,746 --> 00:34:28,721
We're seeing the GM with the Equinox, the Blazer, the Silverado, the Denali.

476
00:34:28,721 --> 00:34:30,582
Those are good things, right?

477
00:34:30,582 --> 00:34:39,750
So my concern then is as to what we're seeing on these pullbacks, again, it gets back to
what I've often said, which is an EV is just a car.

478
00:34:40,351 --> 00:34:42,909
People need to see it as that's a reliable car.

479
00:34:42,909 --> 00:34:48,172
And it is coupled with a fuel that they can, they know what it is and they know how to use
it they can trust it it doesn't overwhelm them.

480
00:34:48,172 --> 00:34:56,666
And I think that we're, we're now seeing that real pain point live out, which is, you
know, why would the public rush into the dealerships to buy a car that they perceive that

481
00:34:56,666 --> 00:34:57,537
they can't trust?

482
00:34:57,537 --> 00:34:59,238
And that's not because it's a car.

483
00:34:59,238 --> 00:34:59,738
Yeah.

484
00:34:59,738 --> 00:35:01,949
It's because of how they understand how they use it with the fuel.

485
00:35:01,949 --> 00:35:06,922
And so, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll keep saying that until it sinks into the industry.

486
00:35:06,922 --> 00:35:12,583
feel like I, know, but does that, is that the only problem with what we're seeing in the
industry?

487
00:35:12,583 --> 00:35:14,394
No, it's a collection of problems.

488
00:35:14,394 --> 00:35:18,615
It's a, you I, can't, you can't sell vision.

489
00:35:18,776 --> 00:35:26,249
the amount of times, I how many companies have basically put on market what they want to
do and others that attempted to copy it and they just didn't get it right.

490
00:35:26,249 --> 00:35:27,900
I mean, good example is the iPod.

491
00:35:27,900 --> 00:35:38,363
The iPod comes out and every major like Microsoft Dell at, you have to have an MP3 player
and they come up with this brick that has songs in it.

492
00:35:38,363 --> 00:35:40,503
And then you go, okay, but

493
00:35:40,705 --> 00:35:48,640
Why would I buy yours when I have access to this store that has all these agreements with
all this music that it syncs right to my computer and gosh, it's a seamless.

494
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:49,460
Wow.

495
00:35:49,460 --> 00:35:51,011
Jobs really thought that one out.

496
00:35:51,011 --> 00:35:54,923
Whereas everyone else was like, here's a thing that plays songs that are digital.

497
00:35:54,923 --> 00:36:00,396
It's no different than what we see happening in the industry right now, which is here's a
car with a big battery in it that runs on electricity.

498
00:36:00,396 --> 00:36:07,782
It's like, yeah, but you didn't think about the software, the charging, the mobile app,
the energy connection, and they're reacting in real time to try to figure that out.

499
00:36:07,782 --> 00:36:12,923
Well, you also brought up really interesting point about EV sales aren't skyrocketing, but
they're still growing.

500
00:36:12,923 --> 00:36:13,702
Yeah, yeah.

501
00:36:13,702 --> 00:36:21,976
And when you look at the actual kind of speaking on John McRoy, this one of the things we
talked about was the actual auto market's actually shrinking pretty considerably compared

502
00:36:21,976 --> 00:36:27,088
to what they had expected it to be even earlier this year for this year's total auto
sales.

503
00:36:27,088 --> 00:36:34,422
So it is, I think, definitely one area to still be optimistic that sure it's not growing
as fast, but when you look at the larger automotive market, the fact that's even growing

504
00:36:34,422 --> 00:36:39,604
at all this year, if you're kind of paying attention to what else is going on is actually
still pretty impressive.

505
00:36:39,604 --> 00:36:43,516
And I completely agree with you on the vision part of it.

506
00:36:43,516 --> 00:36:47,263
versus just like, here's a competitive product, here's a widget.

507
00:36:47,263 --> 00:36:48,545
People are buying widgets, right?

508
00:36:48,545 --> 00:36:53,680
And not understanding that there's kind of the platform or overall experience that
attaches with that.

509
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:53,940
Yep.

510
00:36:53,940 --> 00:37:03,154
No, I think, it's interesting too, is the latest graph I saw about this, and I forget who
shared it, but the data effectively expressing that peak combustion vehicle sales actually

511
00:37:03,154 --> 00:37:05,010
happened in 2017.

512
00:37:05,015 --> 00:37:13,098
And from that year, we have been seeing combustion vehicle sales go down and plug-in
hybrid, hybrid and electric vehicle sales go up.

513
00:37:13,098 --> 00:37:15,519
mean, hybrids still just run on gasoline.

514
00:37:15,519 --> 00:37:17,960
I'm not a huge fan of lumping them in.

515
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:23,462
If it doesn't run on electricity where you can actually fill it up with electricity, I'm
like, that's not an electric car.

516
00:37:23,462 --> 00:37:25,574
But at the same time, it's true.

517
00:37:25,574 --> 00:37:31,989
We are seeing the variety of fuel sources being electric and how that pairs to sales.

518
00:37:31,989 --> 00:37:34,712
It is that those sales are going up incrementally.

519
00:37:34,712 --> 00:37:36,233
Combustion sales are going down.

520
00:37:36,233 --> 00:37:43,519
Even if we're seeing a tapering of vehicle sales overall in the market, yeah, we're still
seeing that EVs are gaining traction.

521
00:37:43,519 --> 00:37:49,444
And maybe, I don't know, maybe that's a soft skepticism from the public.

522
00:37:49,444 --> 00:37:51,890
And there's a consumer psychology piece to that where

523
00:37:51,890 --> 00:37:57,050
People are, well, on top of it, this is where John would just step right in and go, these
cars cost you fucking much.

524
00:37:57,050 --> 00:37:58,270
You know?

525
00:37:58,370 --> 00:38:00,002
You know, and I would say like...

526
00:38:00,002 --> 00:38:01,188
think what you're saying is also true.

527
00:38:01,188 --> 00:38:02,610
It's just like, it's a smorgasbord.

528
00:38:02,610 --> 00:38:05,527
Like, pick one issue of many as to why.

529
00:38:05,527 --> 00:38:06,356
Yeah.

530
00:38:06,356 --> 00:38:08,784
the overall cost is still pretty damn high.

531
00:38:08,784 --> 00:38:09,144
Yeah.

532
00:38:09,144 --> 00:38:13,244
Interest rates are not conducive to someone buying a new car right now.

533
00:38:13,304 --> 00:38:24,134
And so I think those factors and what John, I'm pretty sure was on your podcast, made an
interesting comment about how the prices skyrocketed in the last four years for cars.

534
00:38:24,134 --> 00:38:26,944
I mean, it went up in a, what's it, 30 % or something ridiculous.

535
00:38:26,944 --> 00:38:30,147
was just like, and that they did that to the public.

536
00:38:30,307 --> 00:38:32,928
But so we're not going to see them reduce the prices.

537
00:38:32,928 --> 00:38:39,950
They're hoping that the cost of living and wages will somehow catch up to the fact that,
that's what a car costs now.

538
00:38:39,950 --> 00:38:49,172
And I thought that was a very interesting, you know, like, you know, take and also
explanation about the challenge that the industry faces, because we don't necessarily know

539
00:38:49,172 --> 00:38:51,133
how that's going to go from a wage perspective.

540
00:38:51,133 --> 00:38:56,254
And on top of that, if the only thing they can do is start giving more incentives back to
the customer in some fashion.

541
00:38:56,254 --> 00:38:59,661
Well, the cars that have built in incentives will probably be the ones that

542
00:38:59,661 --> 00:39:01,813
you know, arguably could sell better, which are electrics.

543
00:39:01,813 --> 00:39:04,365
So yeah, I mean, there's a lot to unpack with that.

544
00:39:04,365 --> 00:39:09,759
But I just think that overall, the industry is still going in the right direction.

545
00:39:09,791 --> 00:39:19,127
It's just that there's so much of it that on a day to day basis, it can it can create a
conversation around, you know, consumer confidence, sales confidence, you name it.

546
00:39:19,747 --> 00:39:24,522
For sure, and I think that is kind of an interesting point too of where the tariffs come
back in.

547
00:39:24,522 --> 00:39:33,490
It's like, well, the advantage of these cheaper electric Chinese cars, obviously there'd
be safety standards they have to pass, but we are seeing that with some of the ones going

548
00:39:33,490 --> 00:39:34,521
to Europe.

549
00:39:35,002 --> 00:39:38,685
That would come in and kind of meet that need for the lower point.

550
00:39:38,685 --> 00:39:40,807
in some ways, the fact that...

551
00:39:41,123 --> 00:39:50,603
I gave her trying to protect workers and stuff, but it's also kind of unfortunately
hurting the American consumer that they can't have access to a cheaper vehicle when yeah,

552
00:39:50,603 --> 00:39:53,663
there's just been this focus on kind of staying at this price point.

553
00:39:53,663 --> 00:40:03,361
We're starting to see a couple come down, but a lot of the time that has been electric
vehicles and that's only after they've qualified for like $10,000 worth of credits, which.

554
00:40:03,779 --> 00:40:07,969
I think if you can qualify and get that great, but it just also doesn't seem sustainable.

555
00:40:07,969 --> 00:40:11,729
And I can also get the argument from people who kind of want to hate on it.

556
00:40:11,729 --> 00:40:20,059
It's like, well, it only makes sense if you have to give them all these credits, which I
don't think is true, but it's like, unfortunately a fair point, or you can see why people

557
00:40:20,059 --> 00:40:25,313
are kind of getting to that mindset with just how the current status quo has been.

558
00:40:25,313 --> 00:40:31,608
Well, and we've have subsidized fossil fuels to the tune of billions of dollars a year,
you know, and but no one.

559
00:40:32,109 --> 00:40:34,430
Yeah, no one actively talks about it because.

560
00:40:35,152 --> 00:40:40,356
Yeah, it's it's not yeah, it's not yeah, it's not at the point of sale that, by the way,
we've subsidized the hell out of this.

561
00:40:40,356 --> 00:40:48,032
It's just that we've all been on the receiving end of the benefits of that happening
behind the scenes, which has helped basically hold up the auto industry through combustion

562
00:40:48,032 --> 00:40:49,084
vehicles for a long time.

563
00:40:49,084 --> 00:40:51,806
And we've benefited as consumers for having cheap gas.

564
00:40:51,806 --> 00:40:53,035
But it's it's.

565
00:40:53,035 --> 00:40:54,826
You know, I mean, people will learn that over time.

566
00:40:54,826 --> 00:41:02,341
just think that, you know, we've, we've come to a place where, know, there's, there's
just, again, there's no easy answer.

567
00:41:02,442 --> 00:41:07,866
We have a lot left to do, but if you compare to where we were 10 years ago, it's like,
holy cow.

568
00:41:07,866 --> 00:41:15,472
Like for all the difficulties that exist in the marketplace and with society and politics
and go down the list of everything.

569
00:41:15,472 --> 00:41:20,323
It is incredible that the EVs have been able to get through what they've gotten through.

570
00:41:20,323 --> 00:41:27,187
And at the end of the day, lessons will be learned through automakers and everybody from a
go-to-market strategy as well.

571
00:41:27,187 --> 00:41:28,608
I hope the lessons are learned.

572
00:41:28,608 --> 00:41:36,481
And I think the pain points that we're now seeing that are happening to be more obvious,
that frankly, in Chargeways world, we look at it and say, hey, this is something that we

573
00:41:36,481 --> 00:41:40,074
can help solve in a lot of ways for a lot of different stakeholders and obviously for the
public.

574
00:41:40,074 --> 00:41:41,655
I think it's good thing.

575
00:41:41,695 --> 00:41:43,376
But again, we're at the beginning of this.

576
00:41:43,376 --> 00:41:48,469
We're all going to be old and I've got gray hair already, but we're going be old and gray
haired at one point long in the future.

577
00:41:48,469 --> 00:41:48,905
be like,

578
00:41:48,905 --> 00:41:51,986
Man, that was a challenge, but boy, we got through it, so.

579
00:41:52,831 --> 00:41:57,071
For sure, I mean, it's kind of funny even looking, I was talking to someone else about
this.

580
00:41:57,071 --> 00:42:06,111
I think they were kind of complaining about CCS and I kind of had to put like my grandpa
voice on or something and say, well, back in my day 10 years ago, we were just happy to

581
00:42:06,111 --> 00:42:11,931
find level two chargers, let alone the concept of anything charging over 50 kilowatts.

582
00:42:11,931 --> 00:42:19,069
And even a decade ago, it was like you had the Model S at the high end and then there was
like a Nissan Leaf and an i3 and...

583
00:42:19,069 --> 00:42:27,576
It was such a small portion of the actual auto market or I guess auto buying market that
EVs could even be a thing for.

584
00:42:27,576 --> 00:42:37,455
now to see how many more models and areas that are covered by not just different EVs, but
different automakers too is definitely something to be also optimistic about.

585
00:42:37,473 --> 00:42:38,153
yeah, yeah.

586
00:42:38,153 --> 00:42:40,326
I mean, it's, going the right direction.

587
00:42:40,326 --> 00:42:45,809
I think the fact that we're seeing more people that are joining owners groups on social
media, for example, you'll hear them ask a question.

588
00:42:45,809 --> 00:42:48,531
You'll hear them talk about their EV buying or ownership experience.

589
00:42:48,531 --> 00:42:52,403
And you can genuinely tell us like, this is not a person who's an early adopter or
innovator.

590
00:42:52,403 --> 00:42:55,595
They, they really, really wanted to give this a shot.

591
00:42:55,595 --> 00:42:59,677
And I think that's where there's positive evidence around we're going the right direction.

592
00:42:59,677 --> 00:43:04,213
It then just turns into how great of an experience can we actually give these people.

593
00:43:04,213 --> 00:43:09,328
so that they will say to their friends and family and even for a future purchase, they'll
say, yeah, I'm gonna do that again.

594
00:43:09,328 --> 00:43:14,153
And we've still got some ways that they might say no, that we're working through.

595
00:43:14,153 --> 00:43:21,159
But at the end of the day, yeah, they have over a hundred vehicle options to choose from
now that have a plug from dozens of brands.

596
00:43:21,281 --> 00:43:22,443
That's a big deal.

597
00:43:22,443 --> 00:43:23,724
That's a move in the right direction.

598
00:43:23,724 --> 00:43:24,815
that seems unfathomable.

599
00:43:24,815 --> 00:43:34,212
I still kind of find that hard to believe which is crazy But yeah, I guess one of the
things since we have yawn I know I'm not sure how much you can share with us but looking

600
00:43:34,212 --> 00:43:43,238
at charge way and you're talking about charge way plus before we went on and just I think
that became an interesting thing to talk about with the time we have right now just what

601
00:43:43,238 --> 00:43:50,645
you can share about that and For those listening what they can might who might already be
using charge way what they could be looking forward to as well

602
00:43:50,645 --> 00:43:56,128
Yeah, Chargeway Plus, I mean, it's designed to really just elevate the experience that
people have within the Chargeway mobile app.

603
00:43:56,128 --> 00:43:59,150
So the Chargeway mobile app is free to use on iOS and Android.

604
00:43:59,150 --> 00:44:02,792
Chargeway Plus allows you to connect your vehicle directly to Chargeway.

605
00:44:02,792 --> 00:44:13,247
And so the telematics of your car, the state of charge, starting and stopping the charge,
basically allows you to have a more automated experience with Chargeway so that when you

606
00:44:13,247 --> 00:44:18,182
are looking at public stations, for example, you don't have to go in and set what your
battery is or what your charge limit is.

607
00:44:18,182 --> 00:44:22,013
You can just go right to the map and say, okay, what's my charge time going to be at any
given station?

608
00:44:22,013 --> 00:44:28,215
We wanted to remove some barriers of the manual process of understanding how it all works
and just automate it more.

609
00:44:28,215 --> 00:44:30,185
And we're getting some great feedback around that.

610
00:44:30,185 --> 00:44:34,296
And that's, launched it as a pilot with Austin energy back in the spring.

611
00:44:34,296 --> 00:44:37,117
We then launched it to all of North America in the summertime.

612
00:44:37,117 --> 00:44:40,168
And really we're just trying to give people the opportunity to give it a test drive.

613
00:44:40,168 --> 00:44:45,480
So you can try it for 30 days for free and see what it does for your experience based on
your ownership.

614
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:47,332
In time, we're going to build out.

615
00:44:47,332 --> 00:44:54,564
more features as it relates directly to your home charging management experience, how you
can see what's going on with your home charging, you know, sessions and what that's

616
00:44:54,564 --> 00:44:56,595
looking like for energy usage on a regular basis.

617
00:44:56,595 --> 00:45:03,276
We're adding in those features so that it's not just about having an easier public
charging experience for what your wait time might be.

618
00:45:03,276 --> 00:45:09,038
It's also about what your home charging management can look like, because those are really
the two lifestyles, homeowner and non-homeowner.

619
00:45:09,038 --> 00:45:16,740
And we want people that are using our platform to feel that we've been mindful of their
experience, regardless of what their lifestyle might be.

620
00:45:16,752 --> 00:45:26,636
And we are going to integrate more things over time that make the Chargeway Plus
experience just more feature fulfilled in the sense of what else can we add in that gives

621
00:45:26,636 --> 00:45:31,058
you real time around pricing, activation of charging sessions, things of that nature.

622
00:45:31,058 --> 00:45:37,591
Those will be elements we roll in over time that we really think is going to make a
comprehensive tool that everybody's going to look at and say, well, depending on my

623
00:45:37,591 --> 00:45:41,003
lifestyle, this is a great fit because it gives me these features and it's great.

624
00:45:41,003 --> 00:45:43,757
And then how do we use that to connect people back to

625
00:45:43,757 --> 00:45:45,638
experiences that matter to their lifestyle.

626
00:45:45,638 --> 00:45:48,661
So that's where we can partner with utility companies.

627
00:45:48,661 --> 00:45:55,946
We recently partnered with A to Z adapters for basically allowing a user to say, I don't
have to go shopping for what adapter works for me.

628
00:45:55,946 --> 00:45:59,569
Chargeway just tells me I added my car and it says, these are your adapters you can use.

629
00:45:59,569 --> 00:46:03,242
And so little stuff like that for how we tailor the experience is what we're really
focused on.

630
00:46:03,242 --> 00:46:05,234
So I do invite everybody to download Chargeway.

631
00:46:05,234 --> 00:46:11,671
You can try Chargeway Plus for free for 30 days, connect your car, and obviously give us
as much feedback as possible because we love knowing how we can be better.

632
00:46:11,671 --> 00:46:18,931
Yeah, I guess for anyone listening the link to charge away is always in the show notes
whenever we have Matt on so definitely check it out and give it a try if you haven't

633
00:46:18,931 --> 00:46:19,871
already.

634
00:46:19,871 --> 00:46:28,391
One of the things I guess from a more technical standpoint I know it's been a little while
since I played around with it in a car that is the CarPlay integration with what you guys

635
00:46:28,391 --> 00:46:35,071
are doing and is that still part of the free one or is that now going to be kind of more

636
00:46:35,081 --> 00:46:41,727
Or I guess maybe with the Chargeway Pro does that start unlocking some kind of additional
cool things that you can do with that integration?

637
00:46:41,727 --> 00:46:49,032
Yeah, so Chargeway Plus, I mean, basically, Apple integration for Apple CarPlay, it's free
to use with Chargeway.

638
00:46:49,032 --> 00:46:59,258
Inevitably, the Chargeway Plus integration will allow us to create a more immersive
interaction with what you can do with Chargeway via CarPlay, via Android Auto, whenever we

639
00:46:59,258 --> 00:47:00,068
can release that.

640
00:47:00,068 --> 00:47:02,960
We've been working on it for a while, but we've got to get that out.

641
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:08,403
But that's the idea is that whatever you're doing in your mobile device, can then,
obviously, if you're saying, I want to...

642
00:47:08,403 --> 00:47:10,754
get real-time pricing for what this might be at a location.

643
00:47:10,754 --> 00:47:12,484
I want to get an activated session here.

644
00:47:12,484 --> 00:47:17,026
That's what Plus will be able to provide you, whether it's in mobile or in CarPlay.

645
00:47:17,026 --> 00:47:26,508
The issue with CarPlay and Android Auto from an emulation perspective is they just reduce
through the functionality of the in-car screen from a safety perspective what features you

646
00:47:26,508 --> 00:47:28,089
can have in the screen.

647
00:47:28,089 --> 00:47:35,351
So we have to be very thoughtful around what would someone want just for a quick glance
and doing inside of the screen of the vehicle.

648
00:47:35,619 --> 00:47:39,927
You just don't have as rich of an experience through CarPlay or Android Auto, but...

649
00:47:39,927 --> 00:47:45,214
But it's funny you say that because I remember I was playing a ride, I forgot what car I
was in.

650
00:47:45,214 --> 00:47:53,410
Okay, now I won't say it on here, but let's just say the native experience provided by the
automaker was not great.

651
00:47:53,631 --> 00:48:04,749
And even the more limited just like functionality I could use with Chargeway on the IOET,
like just using it through CarPlay was still a much better and like clearer experience

652
00:48:04,749 --> 00:48:06,511
than what was being provided.

653
00:48:06,511 --> 00:48:09,262
Yeah.

654
00:48:10,104 --> 00:48:10,651
Yeah.

655
00:48:10,651 --> 00:48:14,624
who talked to a software provider and said, just help us solve this.

656
00:48:14,624 --> 00:48:19,888
They weren't really providing the roadmap of how they knew it would be effective for a
driver and their customer.

657
00:48:20,229 --> 00:48:28,796
And the beauty of this is because we've got that in an app that anybody can use either for
free or they can upgrade to Chargeway Plus, but they can also use that for CarPlay today.

658
00:48:28,796 --> 00:48:32,388
That's the beauty of the fact that we, again, we had the right vision.

659
00:48:32,388 --> 00:48:35,030
I'm happy and very proud of what we've built.

660
00:48:35,210 --> 00:48:38,402
But at the same time, I don't want it to just live in charge way.

661
00:48:38,402 --> 00:48:44,967
If we can work and partner with some of these companies, whether it's an automaker or
someone else, we want to, we want to help them improve this experience because our mission

662
00:48:44,967 --> 00:48:51,162
was always make the electric vehicle experience more enjoyable for everyone, regardless of
who they are, what they drive.

663
00:48:51,162 --> 00:48:54,775
And whoever we can work with on making that possible, that's what we want to do.

664
00:48:55,534 --> 00:49:04,425
Yeah, I guess for anyone who is listening, whether they be an automaker or work in a like
DC fast charging company, I guess what could you share some examples of maybe what you've

665
00:49:04,425 --> 00:49:12,083
either done or would like to do to kind of help those kinds of people make their end all
product be a lot better by incorporating charge away.

666
00:49:12,110 --> 00:49:17,081
Well, the cool thing about our software is, we can overlay it onto any other mapping
solution.

667
00:49:17,081 --> 00:49:17,501
Right.

668
00:49:17,501 --> 00:49:22,693
So for example, I think that's, that's, that's one of the hiccups we keep seeing is that
it's this afterthought component.

669
00:49:22,693 --> 00:49:27,744
For example, we've, we've had adapters built into our UI and interface for five years.

670
00:49:27,744 --> 00:49:32,245
And we knew that that was going to be an element of ownership moving forward, even five
years ago.

671
00:49:32,245 --> 00:49:38,347
So now there's all this in-car interface where they're trying to figure out, okay, what's
the best way for us to apply adapters, turn them on.

672
00:49:38,347 --> 00:49:40,037
How does that change what's happening on the map?

673
00:49:40,037 --> 00:49:42,128
How it, this is the best part about Chargeway.

674
00:49:42,128 --> 00:49:49,168
is at a glance, you can look at the map and know that plug color means I can just plug in
natively or I've got to use my adapter.

675
00:49:49,168 --> 00:49:54,228
And that number means I'm going to be there for 15 minutes or maybe an hour just by
glancing at the map.

676
00:49:54,228 --> 00:49:55,928
That's what our system provides.

677
00:49:55,928 --> 00:49:59,408
And so if you're in a vehicle, that's what you want for ease of use.

678
00:49:59,408 --> 00:50:04,368
The fewer times you have to stare at the screen to figure something out or go through a
menu or doing a filter.

679
00:50:04,368 --> 00:50:09,562
It's like, how about you just use something that was designed with intent and it had
vision around.

680
00:50:09,562 --> 00:50:12,774
How do we make this easy for everyone based on what we know they need to know?

681
00:50:12,774 --> 00:50:20,300
That's an example of where I know we could really help and work with a lot of these in-car
experiences that various OEMs are working on.

682
00:50:20,300 --> 00:50:23,282
We could help make that and improve that in a variety of ways.

683
00:50:23,282 --> 00:50:29,966
And that translates right back to in-vehicle experiences for using things like
push-to-talk and communicating to your car.

684
00:50:29,966 --> 00:50:38,660
Instead of saying, find me a CCS combo SAE standard 150 kilowatt DC fast charger within
five miles, it's like,

685
00:50:38,660 --> 00:50:42,363
Hey, find me a green six within five miles.

686
00:50:42,363 --> 00:50:44,474
You know, I mean, like basic stuff like that.

687
00:50:44,474 --> 00:50:49,228
And how does that translate to more customers that maybe are bilingual or don't speak
English?

688
00:50:49,228 --> 00:50:51,009
And how do we translate that for them?

689
00:50:51,009 --> 00:50:58,384
These are things that we were very mindful of and that via our software, how it can be
applied to user experience is where we can really, really help a lot of different

690
00:50:58,384 --> 00:51:00,837
stakeholders improve what the experience can be.

691
00:51:00,837 --> 00:51:07,127
And I'm sure it's been a little while since I've used the app because I was playing around
with it on a road trip about a year ago.

692
00:51:07,127 --> 00:51:16,037
And I'm sure I remember you guys and maybe it depends on the actual DC fast charging
provider and what information they share.

693
00:51:16,077 --> 00:51:21,997
Does it show what like the availability of chargers is for certain companies or not?

694
00:51:21,997 --> 00:51:23,517
I can remember.

695
00:51:24,177 --> 00:51:25,037
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

696
00:51:25,037 --> 00:51:29,557
yeah, so we do have real time status for most of the major networks in North America.

697
00:51:31,137 --> 00:51:40,957
Yeah, yeah, EVgo, Electrify America, Tesla Supercharging, Blink, and some of the regional
like EVCS is mostly West Coast, we have real time integrated for them.

698
00:51:40,957 --> 00:51:43,817
And we're integrating more real time status for more networks on a regular basis.

699
00:51:43,817 --> 00:51:45,997
They're contacting us saying, how do do this?

700
00:51:45,997 --> 00:51:50,747
So there's ways in which we've maintained wanting to give, again, empower

701
00:51:50,747 --> 00:51:58,566
drivers, give them agency in their decision making, but also provide networks the ability
to have, again, provide much better information via our platform.

702
00:51:58,566 --> 00:52:01,629
And so, yeah, the real time status piece is important.

703
00:52:01,750 --> 00:52:08,288
And that's something that, again, we've integrated with as many networks as we can, and
we're going to keep improving on that as we go down the line.

704
00:52:08,288 --> 00:52:14,588
You know, I think one of the things I've always said about electrification is like for it
to be successful, it doesn't have to be just as good.

705
00:52:14,588 --> 00:52:16,728
I mean, this is true with any technology.

706
00:52:16,728 --> 00:52:20,488
For it to be like the new standard, it can't be just as good, to be better.

707
00:52:20,488 --> 00:52:25,928
And I think that's where some of these kind of real time functionality things are really
cool, especially when you're on a road trip.

708
00:52:25,928 --> 00:52:32,968
If you can see proactively where you can skip or it's gonna, if you just go a little bit
farther, it's gonna be cheaper or quicker overall.

709
00:52:33,068 --> 00:52:36,956
That's just not, I mean, technically you could, but it's...

710
00:52:36,956 --> 00:52:43,461
It's just something you don't really have available to you in a combustion vehicle and
it's requires so much more work.

711
00:52:43,461 --> 00:52:50,548
If even if you were to try and find some of this information, I think that's just some of
the cool things that we're really seeing with what you guys do.

712
00:52:50,548 --> 00:52:57,212
And obviously like Tesla kind of offers some of this information natively for their
system, but having a much more just cross.

713
00:52:57,673 --> 00:53:08,137
charge provider solution is such a cool thing to see and is really what EV drivers need
and I think kind of goes back to like how do you create an experience that's better and

714
00:53:08,137 --> 00:53:19,252
just more of a honestly easier and I think that example you just had about like trying to
find like what's near me versus like I need to know a CCS between 150 to 250 kilowatt

715
00:53:19,252 --> 00:53:25,749
within a certain like just making it more user friendly than over complicating it.

716
00:53:25,749 --> 00:53:34,629
that's a beauty of it is, is, is if you give people a way to navigate the kit, the design
chaos, like we were talking about earlier, if you give people the, like a system by which

717
00:53:34,629 --> 00:53:43,349
they can navigate based on their own personal experiences, where they can look at it and
say, all right, I've connected my, whatever vehicle it is, my Volkswagen ID4 to Chargeway

718
00:53:43,349 --> 00:53:43,869
Plus.

719
00:53:43,869 --> 00:53:48,249
And I know my vehicle's level six, that's the maximum, my vehicle's level six car.

720
00:53:48,249 --> 00:53:51,209
I go to green stations, my current state of charge is 4%.

721
00:53:51,209 --> 00:53:52,981
It says I want to go to 80.

722
00:53:52,981 --> 00:53:54,162
I'm going go look at the map.

723
00:53:54,162 --> 00:54:03,589
They can easily then tap on a pin and go, I know instantaneously based on the engineering
information in the background, the charger has helped me with that's a 40 minute charge at

724
00:54:03,589 --> 00:54:07,331
that station there, or maybe it's an hour charge there, or maybe it's 30 minutes here.

725
00:54:07,331 --> 00:54:17,558
And that beauty of simplicity around personalization is what we designed to be holistic
and agnostic in the sense that you can choose any automaker you want.

726
00:54:17,558 --> 00:54:21,911
And we will make that experience that way for any brand of vehicle or any model you
choose.

727
00:54:21,911 --> 00:54:28,466
But then we're holistic in the sense that it is based on the landscape of what you have as
options based on charging out there in the wild.

728
00:54:28,466 --> 00:54:31,688
And it's a lot to manage, it's a lot to curate.

729
00:54:31,688 --> 00:54:38,072
But I think drivers, as they become exposed to what they know they need to know over time,
will appreciate the approach that we've had.

730
00:54:38,953 --> 00:54:39,873
No, for sure.

731
00:54:39,873 --> 00:54:48,701
No, I think that's what's really cool about it too is it is not only super approachable
for new people, but it does kind of have those kind of pro features, if you will, that can

732
00:54:48,701 --> 00:54:54,455
like as you start kind of learning and kind of playing with this and getting that
confidence of driving a road trip and EV more, you're like, okay, how can I hack this

733
00:54:54,455 --> 00:54:54,756
better?

734
00:54:54,756 --> 00:54:57,393
That that tool really does allow.

735
00:54:57,393 --> 00:54:59,840
I realize we're also coming up on the hour here.

736
00:54:59,840 --> 00:55:04,012
So I want to be respectful of your time, but I know you've been also

737
00:55:04,289 --> 00:55:10,082
Among all the things you're doing at Chargeway, you've also been kind of the MC at some of
the Electrify Expo events.

738
00:55:10,082 --> 00:55:13,905
Are you the one at New York City coming up?

739
00:55:13,905 --> 00:55:16,249
Do you know what the dates are for that?

740
00:55:16,249 --> 00:55:22,110
I was just going to say, if there's anyone that's listening to this and wants to meet you
in person, I think that'd be a great event to not just meet you, but obviously learn more

741
00:55:22,110 --> 00:55:24,385
about what Chargeway and the team does there.

742
00:55:24,385 --> 00:55:25,006
Definitely, yeah.

743
00:55:25,006 --> 00:55:32,017
And no, if you want to meet me at the New York Electrify Expo, October 12th and 13th, I
will be at that event.

744
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:35,664
And the partnership we have at Electrify Expo has been a lot of fun.

745
00:55:36,091 --> 00:55:38,152
the founder of expo, name is BJ Birtwell.

746
00:55:38,152 --> 00:55:40,275
got a chance to know him, early on in my career over 20.

747
00:55:40,275 --> 00:55:40,805
Yeah.

748
00:55:40,805 --> 00:55:41,666
BJ is fantastic.

749
00:55:41,666 --> 00:55:46,161
And I met him over 20 years ago, in my, started my career in the auto world and the auto
aftermarket.

750
00:55:46,161 --> 00:55:53,599
And, you know, he's been in the world of marketing for a long time and events, obviously
has a, a, a very good skillset for it and knows how to do it.

751
00:55:53,669 --> 00:55:57,302
we met and talked about his vision for expo, before COVID.

752
00:55:57,302 --> 00:56:01,875
And I was like, God, man, of all people, yeah, you could do this and boy does the industry
need it.

753
00:56:01,875 --> 00:56:04,245
And so it's been really great to work with them.

754
00:56:04,245 --> 00:56:10,030
You know, and his vision has always been, well, how do we make the experience easy for
people at the expo event?

755
00:56:10,030 --> 00:56:15,013
And how do we make it so that they will decide with confidence to buy an electric car?

756
00:56:15,013 --> 00:56:20,196
And he saw what we were doing the chargeway and he just said, look, I recognize that you
are talking about the other side of the conversation.

757
00:56:20,196 --> 00:56:22,437
It's not just the vehicle, it's the fueling.

758
00:56:22,437 --> 00:56:24,068
And how do we, how do we roll that in?

759
00:56:24,068 --> 00:56:26,270
So we've been a partner to the expo since day one.

760
00:56:26,270 --> 00:56:28,759
and my involvement with the, with the event this year,

761
00:56:28,759 --> 00:56:35,036
has been, you know, there's an Amazon booth called the Amazon Recharge Zone and Amazon is
a partner.

762
00:56:35,036 --> 00:56:37,519
for you while at the San Francisco one.

763
00:56:37,519 --> 00:56:39,562
So I had some big shoes to fill.

764
00:56:39,562 --> 00:56:40,723
Now that was great.

765
00:56:40,723 --> 00:56:46,571
I think it's such a great thing that you've been doing for just as of the many things
you're doing right now.

766
00:56:46,571 --> 00:56:50,103
It's been such a great addition to the Expos and having that there.

767
00:56:50,103 --> 00:56:50,853
It's been fun.

768
00:56:50,853 --> 00:56:55,823
mean, every city, every time we talk to people that are at the event, we get a chance to
chat with industry professionals.

769
00:56:55,823 --> 00:56:56,863
We're kind of like this.

770
00:56:56,863 --> 00:56:59,163
I just have a conversation with folks about what they're working on.

771
00:56:59,163 --> 00:57:03,883
Oftentimes local people could be solar installers, could be local level two charging
installers.

772
00:57:03,883 --> 00:57:07,783
Obviously other big players from the industry we've talked with that are at every event.

773
00:57:07,783 --> 00:57:12,843
But it really is a chance for those who are at the event in person to hear these
conversations.

774
00:57:12,843 --> 00:57:15,479
And we invite them in to say, if you've got questions.

775
00:57:15,479 --> 00:57:17,719
Like you just heard a 10 minute conversation about something.

776
00:57:17,719 --> 00:57:18,599
What's your question?

777
00:57:18,599 --> 00:57:26,009
And it's really fun because it personalizes and I think it removes a little bit of that
layer of intimidation that some people might have.

778
00:57:26,009 --> 00:57:31,139
And when we're saying, no, this is about having an open conversation, no dumb questions,
come on by.

779
00:57:31,139 --> 00:57:32,289
It's been a ton of fun.

780
00:57:32,289 --> 00:57:37,159
And we get to showcase Chargeway inside of the booth through our mini beacon tablets that
are there.

781
00:57:37,159 --> 00:57:43,879
And it's really a way for us to, again, have a narrative around, it's not just about the
car, it's about the fueling experience.

782
00:57:44,063 --> 00:57:49,633
like our conversation has shown, where does that branch to in the energy experience that
you might have based on your lifestyle?

783
00:57:49,633 --> 00:57:51,496
It's where Chargeway wants to be.

784
00:57:51,496 --> 00:57:55,454
And it's been a lot of fun working with BJ and his team on just having that happen.

785
00:57:55,454 --> 00:58:07,517
No, and I think both Electrify Xp and What Charge We Do are very complimentary in having
that kind of very welcoming and also just kind of like total full package of kind of...

786
00:58:07,580 --> 00:58:15,244
learning more about, I mean, what's cool about electrify Expos, it's not just electric
vehicles, they got electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging, and then e-bikes, you

787
00:58:15,244 --> 00:58:18,655
name it, anything kind of mobility for anyone and everyone for the family is great.

788
00:58:18,655 --> 00:58:28,560
But then obviously how you guys approach it for just charging across the board at
Chargeway 2 on kind of like the digital and software side of being an EV driver is such a

789
00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:34,733
much more streamlined and just overall much better experience than unfortunately still
what we're seeing from the native stuff.

790
00:58:34,733 --> 00:58:37,604
So it's really great to have that and I hope more

791
00:58:37,604 --> 00:58:40,166
partner with what you guys are doing at Chargeway.

792
00:58:40,487 --> 00:58:45,751
Matt, just want to say as we come up at the end of this hour, thank you again so much for
coming on today.

793
00:58:45,751 --> 00:58:49,314
Always a blast to talk with you and look forward to chatting with you again soon.

794
00:58:49,342 --> 00:58:49,572
Perfect.

795
00:58:49,572 --> 00:58:50,714
Well, again, thanks for the invite, Chase.

796
00:58:50,714 --> 00:58:51,665
Always enjoy the chats.

797
00:58:51,665 --> 00:58:54,088
Again, at the end of the day, things are progressing in the right direction.

798
00:58:54,088 --> 00:58:55,890
I think it's awesome.

799
00:58:56,351 --> 00:58:56,721
Yep.

800
00:58:56,721 --> 00:58:57,007
Yeah.

801
00:58:57,007 --> 00:59:00,466
And I'm psyched about where things are going to go, both for the industry and obviously
for we're helping the industry do.

802
00:59:00,466 --> 00:59:02,198
So thanks again for the invite today.

803
00:59:02,696 --> 00:59:03,662
Great, thanks Matt.

804
00:59:08,781 --> 00:59:11,941
That wraps up another episode of the Grid Connections podcast.

805
00:59:11,941 --> 00:59:20,381
Huge thanks again to Matt Teske, founder of Chargeway for joining us again today and
sharing his invaluable insights on how a Chargeway is making the EV experience smoother,

806
00:59:20,381 --> 00:59:23,341
smarter, and more accessible for drivers everywhere.

807
00:59:23,341 --> 00:59:31,481
If you're as excited as we are about the future of electric vehicles and the innovations
happening in the charging space, be sure to download the Chargeway app and give it a try.

808
00:59:31,481 --> 00:59:37,953
And don't forget to explore how Chargeway solutions are already helping EV owners navigate
the electric fueling landscape with ease.

809
00:59:37,953 --> 00:59:45,537
especially for those who work in dealerships and are just generally curious about electric
vehicles and how to go on road trips with them.

810
00:59:45,537 --> 00:59:49,439
I've used the app plenty of times and personally, I'm a very big fan.

811
00:59:49,439 --> 00:59:52,261
think it's great to have more options like this out there.

812
00:59:52,261 --> 00:59:54,262
As always, we love hearing from you.

813
00:59:54,262 --> 01:00:02,146
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share with at least one other person who might find
it interesting as well and take a moment to leave a pause review on our podcast page.

814
01:00:02,146 --> 01:00:08,159
Your feedback not only helps us grow, but it also helps bring more great conversations
like this to the grid connections community.

815
01:00:08,385 --> 01:00:12,642
Thanks again for tuning in and until next week, this is the Great Connections podcast
signing off.