Good morning Grid Connections listeners, I'm your host Chase and the Grid
Connections podcast is the podcast designed to help empower your electric
vehicle knowledge.
Today we're exploring converting traditional combustion engine vehicles to
electric and general EV maintenance.
Our guest today is none other than Mavrick Knoles, the co -founder of Legacy EV.
His company is an aftermarket automotive company helping educate the workforce on
electric vehicle conversions and provide electric vehicle parts distribution.
Legacy EV is really trying to make EV conversions and maintenance easier for
everyone.
I actually was able to take Legacy EV's in -person electric vehicle conversion course
at their facility in Tempe last May and I've included a link to it in the show
notes.
It was a great experience to meet others in the space, most from traditional but
high -end mechanic shops to learn not just in a detailed classroom environment but
also get extensive hands -on experience in the shop.
to see what making a traditional combustion car into an electric vehicle is
all about.
I'm actually working on my own electric vehicle conversion currently of a 1987
Land Rover Defender 90.
And in a previous episode, we spoke with Chris Hazel.
He's the founder of Felton and their Defender kit, among others that they offer
for converting your own combustion vehicle to electric.
Quintin, coincidentally,
Legacy EV is one of Felton's distributors of their conversion kits in the U S and
I've also shared a link to that in the show notes for today.
Anyone that is listening should also check out that episode because it really is a
great intro and covers a lot of different topics of what it takes to get the right
kit for your conversion and kind of some of the interesting ways that Felton's
approaching that.
And just to clarify, Legacy EV also does supply many other kits from other vendors.
But, uh, it's just been great to speak with the team at Felton because of my
personal interest around their defender kit, but legacy V, especially if you're
based in the U S really has a, just about a kit for every use case and different car
out there.
So I really recommend checking out their site, but today's conversation was really
fascinating with Mavrick.
It was pretty interesting to learn about his own experiences with how he got
involved with electric vehicles and how he kind of.
made a pretty big pivot from teaching to co -founding Legacy EV and what it takes
to really be in that space with making it as easy to find the right parts and deal
with supply chain headaches to also being able to provide the education that's
definitely needed for those who are kind of curious about converting their own
vehicles or even if you're a mechanic in a shop and want to learn more about working
on electric vehicles or what it takes to really know.
and how to do that safely.
So I really enjoy this conversation.
I'm hoping to have people like him and more in the future.
But with that, enjoy.
thank you for joining us today, can you just give us a little information about
yourself and Legacy EV?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, Legacy EV was founded conceptually back in 2019.
My co-founder Rob Ward has been lifelong gear head and a little bit skeptical
towards the EV movement until he took a ride in a Tesla P100D and really felt the
torque and performance that EV platforms have to offer.
And at the time, I think I was one of the only people he knew that drove an EV.
I'd been an early adopter.
in the EV movement was driving a 2014 Ford Focus Electric with a 72 mile range.
And actually the first time that I went to drive that car, the dealership was about
50, 55 miles from my house and I knew the car at a 72 mile range.
So I bought it and got on the freeway in Arizona and turned on the AC and the range
went from 72 down to 48.
I was like, I'm not going to make it home.
This is crazy.
What am I supposed to do?
And just real quick, like learning experience with EVs that, okay, there's
other factors that have parasitic loss impact on the battery range and what can
happen.
And so Rob spent many days picking me up with a stranded battery and no range.
So that was my introduction into EV.
Professionally, I started out...
a truly a crash course that is.
I love that.
That that's wild.
No, I I'm sorry.
Keep going.
No, no, you're good.
Yeah, it was wild.
And I love to have that story to share back when people are like a 72 mile range.
That's crazy.
I didn't even know they made EVs with that little battery.
And it's like, yeah, in the early days, that's what they had.
Now it feels like 140 is a really low mileage range, but yeah, anyway, I started
out professionally in education.
So I graduated from the University of Washington and had plans to go to law
school.
So I applied for a program called Teach for America.
And that program placed me in Phoenix teaching at a new charter school.
I was teaching, uh, reading and writing to, um, English language learners.
And really just fell in love with education.
I was like, wow, this is, this is awesome.
Had a ton of fun and, uh, was getting ready to apply to law school.
And my wife was getting ready to apply to grad school at the same time.
And so she got into grad school up in Washington and I was like, you know what?
I'm going to teach for a few more years, stay in education.
And, uh, I actually found a new charter school.
that had just been started up in Washington that I was able to join on as
the math director for.
And they were a charter school that was all project-based learning, very hands-on,
like engineering, STEM, and robotics.
And so I really got to learn the ropes of building curriculum there, where we
developed all new curriculum programs that were based around math that were very
hands-on, project-based learning, had students working on Arduino technology,
like every day, building really, really cool things, prosthetic arms, you name it.
And
just really opened my eyes to how much can be done when you can implement like really
rigorous learning activities with hands-on approach to learning.
And so that's kind of the basis for how we approach learning at legacy.
Evie to a lot of our learning is built around these hands-on experiences and how
can we make sure they're rigorous, but also really let people learn the technical
by doing.
Um, and so yeah, when Rob approached me to start legacy V back in 2019, I was, I was
actually getting ready to apply to law school.
I had taken the LSAT.
I was writing my applications and I was just feeling like, I don't know if law
school is for me.
So when he approached me with the idea, I was like, absolutely.
I'd love to.
That sounds way better than reading contracts all day, which I ironically
spend a large portion of my day doing when we have big deals coming through the
pipeline.
But yeah, it's been really fun.
It's been a wild ride since we started.
And I guess that's my background.
I didn't talk much about legacy, but I can dive into a little bit about who legacy is
now as well.
for anybody that's new if that sounds good to you, Jason.
Yeah, that'd be great.
I definitely want to come back to learn more about how you landed on the Ford
electric because that is such a rare car and was such low volume.
So no, I think first let's, let's go into legacy V and then I have so many questions
about that alone.
Uh, but this is great.
And coincidentally, my wife is a lawyer in the energy law space.
And I think she would probably agree with you.
You made the right choice.
Yeah, that's funny.
Yeah, don't connect with people very often that are also lawyers in this space, but
that's cool.
And yeah, happy to talk more about the Ford.
I'll keep the intro on Legacy EV a little bit shorter than I did my own, but Legacy
EV is a aftermarket automotive company focused on EV parts distribution and
workforce development.
So we distribute aftermarket parts for EVs focused on mostly EV conversions, but we
also support...
EV repair shops and replacement equipment for electric vehicles.
And then we provide all the training that's needed to come along with that.
So that's really how our customer journey starts, is people come to us to get
trained so they can understand this stuff better.
And then they really trust us as this brand agnostic parts hub to come and get
the equipment they need to go out and do the work that they've now been trained
for.
We also support like junior colleges, tech schools, high school CTE programs, STEM
programs with the curriculum and hardware they need to teach programs around
e-mobility.
So to date we have about 50 authorized installers around the country.
That's how our parts get out into the world, to the end user really, is we have
authorized installers that convert vehicles from gas to electric for
customers and we support them with the parts and training that they need.
And then we're supporting about 18 schools around the country right now and growing
probably will be at about 30 by the end of this year.
Oh, wow.
That's awesome.
I knew just kind of from following you guys that program was starting to take
off, but it's great to see that there's been so much growth.
I guess if anyone is listening, what would be the best way that if they have a school
or kind of educator that wants to reach out to you to learn more about that
program.
Yeah, absolutely.
You can reach out to us at info at legacy.com.
You can also check out our legacy.
Evie Academy, it's academy legacy.com.
That's our online learning ecosystem that we just relaunched into.
It's like second iteration now that has a lot of our online learning materials that
where you can start to explore and see what's available for you to learn with
online.
Yeah, I think that's, uh, it's such a great thing that your team is doing.
And it's kind of funny because the way I came across legacy EV was the opposite of
what you're talking about.
I was actually kind of looking for parts to do a conversion, saw a lot of the stuff
that you had and realized that even in my own kind of knowledge base, I was pretty
rusty, um, and still just had a lot of questions, especially with some of these
kids.
So I first did that online course.
That part I think was good, but was pretty familiar.
Like I think.
pretty aligned with what I already knew.
And I took the plunge and then did the actual course in May.
And I think what I enjoyed so much about that was there was obviously kind of the
curriculum where you're in the class and you're learning.
And it was very detailed and subject specific that kind of maybe some of these
other programs, or especially if you're kind of doing like an online course,
doesn't get into that fine level of detail.
And then it was augmented with so much hands-on experience.
And I think that was the huge thing for me.
Um, and I realized I was kind of in an interesting, I was kind of just like the
random average Joe in there who was curious about this, uh, with, there was
one other guy that was, um, an educator, uh, I believe at a high school in Boise.
And then it was mostly like Shelby America and like very large, very well
established, um, grouped companies with McCann, uh, techs and that were trying to
really learn about how to now do EVs.
And so it was just a really great.
uh, learning experience.
And I think what was really cool about it too, was just such a wide variation in the
people who were there and why they were there.
Um, so I've really been recommending your guys program and it's just great to see
how much that's grown.
Well, thank you.
Yeah, we always appreciate that.
And you bring up a good point that really, you know, our business model is supporting
individuals and businesses in whatever they need to be able to adopt and adapt
their business to support electrification.
And so that can be these like legacy companies like Shelby American that are
figuring out what does their business look like in a world of EV to companies that
are providing paint for battery modules that goes inside and keeps them
you know, the paint is a different type of paint than you would see in any other
application.
And they want their sales reps to be able to talk about the EV and how it works.
And so they send them to us.
And so it's really surprising how many different types of businesses our training
can support.
But it's really, yeah, the fundamentals of EV is a fun way for people to learn out
there in the shop, looking at conversions, looking at the training benches and
getting their hands on the equipment.
So it makes a really fun learning experience.
For sure, and I think my recommendation even to the team was like, I would almost
pay the money again, just to like have the two days of where you're wiring up the
system and doing kind of these, just the hands-on parts of it, because it's so much
nicer and easier to make those mistakes on your demo and kind of the educational
stuff you have there versus actually trying to wire this stuff through and do
it in car.
Um, but yeah, I think it's such a great program that you guys are doing and it's
not the only program out there, but I think by far, at least in North America,
for sure, um, since a little bit wild west, as far as the regulations as to what
qualifies to be an EV tech.
And I know you guys are doing actually a lot to kind of help build those rules and
put those in place.
Um, but I think it's great to see that you guys are kind of having not just the
educational component, but also.
You can get everything from a used Tesla drive unit to a brand new kit.
And it really does give you a really full spectrum of how much you're trying to do,
maybe a build on a budget to do some kind of the higher end builds as well.
But, um, I guess that reminds me, I'd be curious to just kind of learn a bit more
about, um, well, okay, before we get too much of this, cause I think I can narrow
down this whole day, let's, let's go back to this Ford, the Ford electric.
I have a couple of questions about that, but what,
for sure.
But did you choose that?
Cause back then you said it was 2014.
It would have been, it would have been like that, the Nissan Leaf, and then
obviously like maybe a Model S or something or a Tesla Roadster, but there's
a pretty big price delta to go up to that.
But yeah, can you share what, um, how you landed on that?
Yeah, for sure.
Well, so I bought it in, it was either late 2015 or early 2016.
So it was a used model.
And I think at the time I was looking at the Nissan Leaf, there was the, the BMW
that's electric that I think had also just come out, but it was quite a bit more
expensive.
And then yeah, Tesla Model S.
And that was, that was really it.
And so for me, actually what started
my whole journey down the path of electrification is I was, I was interested
in it for the environmental aspect, but really it was, I could use the carpool
lane in the state of Arizona.
And I was like, I don't care what I have to do to be able to charge.
I'll figure this out if I can use a carpool lane.
Cause I was commuting like an hour and 15 minutes to work and probably 30 minutes of
that was in traffic.
It could have been like a 45 minute commute if I could use the carpool lane.
And so I just started looking and I was like, how can I figure this out and what's
the cheapest car?
driving a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8T, which was super fun to drive, but it was a
cheap car, right, in 2015.
I think I spent like $4,000 on that car.
And so I was like, I didn't have a bunch of money.
I was a teacher just starting out of college.
And so I needed something that was inexpensive.
So I wasn't gonna do the BMW or the Tesla.
And so I was between the Nissan and the Ford Focus.
And they had pretty similar range, but I liked how the Focus looked way better.
I was like, I don't really want to drive a Nissan light.
It just wasn't doing it for me without luck.
And the Ford Focus looks just like the gas Ford Focus.
You can't even tell the difference except for the blue cloud plate.
And then there's no exhaust.
So that was really the only way that you could tell the difference.
But I just liked the look.
And I thought at the time, 72 mile range would do it.
It was like a 40 mile commute to work.
So I was like, okay, I'll get to work.
I'll charge a little bit and then I'll drive home.
And there was no EV charger.
in my work so I brought the little wall outlet, like the 110, and I'd plug it in
to like a lamp post outside my work and then I'd charge it and I'd get like eight
miles on the day and that was it.
But it worked, it got me home.
I just barely had enough to recharge overnight where I had a level two.
to go both ways.
Gotcha.
Yeah, just barely though.
I mean, I had to plug in at work.
Although here's another really funny follow up to that story.
After about six months of ownership, the high voltage battery went out.
And I was like, oh my gosh, this is not good.
And so I took it to the Ford dealer and they told me it was gonna cost $36,000 to
replace the battery.
I paid $8,000 for the car.
Maybe even, it was like,
did it cost to actually buy it?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think I paid under $8,000.
I think it was like $7,500 or something like that.
It was pretty inexpensive.
And especially at the time, it had 16,000 miles on it and it was a 2014.
I was like, this is the newest car I've ever driven and a backup camera.
I was like, this is great.
I'll do this all day.
But the battery went out and I was like, that's way more than what I paid for the
car.
Like, how am I gonna do this?
Turns out it was under warranty, eight year, 100,000 mile warranty.
So Ford footed the bill.
And so they didn't have any more 2014 packs.
They put a 2017 pack in the car.
And so I got 140 mile range.
So I got like the new vehicles, yeah, the new vehicle range.
And so then when I went to sell that car, I sold it for like $12,000, which was more
than I paid.
And I saved the money on gas every month driving it.
So I was like, EVs are the future, this is the way to go.
I just made so much money out of this car, it's amazing.
No, that's not everybody's experience.
I think that was pretty unique, but I was pretty stoked.
legacy EV and teaching, now you're doing car flipping is kind of what the takeaway
from that experience was.
Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
No, that's all.
I'm kind of curious when you took it in, what did the dealership say?
Do you remember as far as like they didn't want to touch it or they had really no
idea what to do with the battery replacement and that experience?
I mean, I can imagine that nowadays.
I was talking to someone who had an issue with a Ford Mach-E recently and then kind
of the high voltage problem we're seeing a year ago.
I can't even imagine why that would have been in 2016.
Yeah, it was definitely even more the Wild West back then than it is today.
I showed up and they were like, we've never seen one of these, so we don't know
what to do.
It's gonna take a while.
I think it took them like three weeks just to get me the quote on what it was gonna
cost to repair it.
And then I think it was with them for three months, replacing the high voltage
battery pack.
So yeah, it was pretty wild.
And the bill, I wish I still had the bill.
I should see if I can find it, but yeah.
everything that went into fixing that car's battery, it was more expensive than
buying a new 2017.
Like the car was like technically totaled if it wasn't under warranty, which is just
wild.
So yeah, I think for me that was a really eye-opening experience that like there,
this is cool that I'm like being taken care of and I get a new battery pack and
this is all great.
But like what's going to happen once these things are out of warranty?
how are technicians gonna know how to replace it?
Cause I only had the Ford dealer.
That was the only place I could go.
That was the only place that sold the battery pack.
So like even the local mechanic that I was used to going to, he was like, don't bring
it here.
I can't do anything for you.
And so it just started to like get the wheels spinning on.
What is this gonna look like in 20 years?
Like when these, a ton of these vehicles are out of warranty and still technically
like they're on the road, they're getting bought in the used vehicle market, you
know?
And so I like to think that that's
a large part of what we're addressing today is we're helping shops get access to
trainings so they can figure out what it looks like to do work in this space.
And we're supporting shops that are replacing Nissan Leaf battery packs.
So we have a partner that we work with where we source the Nissan Leaf components
to sell them into the aftermarket where people can also come to us and buy those
packs and then install them on Leafs that have serious battery degradation.
You can get new batteries and replace those.
So it just starts to open up the world.
possibilities for what you can do in this space.
I think there's a kind of opportunity here for sure.
Yeah, that's great.
And I think you're totally right that there's such a large opportunity, whether
it be from people doing the classic car kind of resto mod, EV conversion to just
existing electric vehicle maintenance, which is only going to grow with more and
more of these on the roads.
I guess the only other question I had is that that's wild that you essentially
didn't have a car for four months.
Did they give you a loaner or what, what exactly, how did that work out?
Yeah, they did.
I had a Ford, oh, what did I have?
Yeah, I got a loaner, a gas powered car.
And so it was a bummer.
I was like, Oh man, I have to pay for gas now, which I didn't.
I had free charging at the apartment that I was living at while I was a teacher.
And then I got to charge for free at work.
So I was saving all that money on gas for a long commute, you know, but then for
that brief period of time, I had to pay for gas, which was a bummer and can use
the carpool lane.
So life was rough for a couple of months.
Yeah.
But I was thankful that it was under warranty and yeah, it was very, very
helpful that the batteries do come with such, such long warranties.
And it's interesting.
I mean, I love the Phoenix area.
I've got family down there.
And I think especially with those early EVs, I know the leaf had the issue with it
being, uh, I believe just air-cooled and not liquid cooled.
I'm not sure about the Ford going from the 70 mile range to the 140 mile range.
When you turned on the AC, was there still a pretty noticeable difference in range?
Or had there been kind of changes to kind of the thermal management at all with that
change, the new battery.
You know, that's a good question.
I haven't even looked up the specs of that car since I have become more knowledgeable
around EV technology.
I believe it was just an air-cooled pack.
Yeah, I don't even think they were really doing liquid cooling at the time, but
definitely saw range decrease.
I think instead of 142, it was like 117 or something like that.
So still a big dip.
And heat was the other.
thing that really killed it, but that's also when I learned like, oh, this car has
seat heat.
And that's like a huge reason why is because cabin heat takes way more energy
than seat heat.
And so yeah, on you don't get very many cold winter mornings in Arizona, but
occasionally it's down in like the thirties or forties.
And so you're right.
Yeah.
So I'd get out there and I turn on the seat heat and I let it warm up or the car.
Also, you could program it to have a schedule.
So I like had my commute scheduled.
So
while it was plugged in, it would turn on cabin heat and get the car up to
temperature while it was plugged in so it wouldn't take battery life, which was
super cool to be able to have those features and mess with a lot of that,
which helped with range.
And so I just started to learn the tips.
I learned how to drive it better and all those things back in 2015, 2016.
I think that's so funny because that's such a common experience where it's like,
they're very clear reason for, I mean, I think obviously a lot of people have
bought EVs for environmental reasons, but I think so, or if they do, it's almost
secondary.
Where there is a lot of it, it's just kind of curiosity.
Uh, there's obviously the HOV, the, uh, savings other, I think actually kind of
reasons that people will buy it.
And then there's kind of the secondary benefits of it.
And to see your kind of your experience of like kind of going in without really
knowing, and especially back then, there just wasn't a whole lot of knowledge about
these different systems.
And I think it's really cool to see some of this in the training I did where, I
mean, obviously I think everyone thinks about the battery and the motor, but the
biggest thing for sure is really the thermals to maintain the vehicle over
time.
And trying to minimize those big deltas you can see in energy usage or even
degradation, but okay.
You.
You sell the electric, you make a profit with that.
And from there, is that kind of around the time you were pretty much leaning into
legacy EV and was it at that time really the focus on education and then kind of
became selling parts as well, or was it kind of a both at the same time?
Yeah, so I think, you know, when Rob approached me with the idea, the
authorized installer network was always a part of what the business would look like.
We knew that, you know, we wanted to be able to create a trusted network of
technicians who could build these cars for people.
And really, that helps also establish trust with the manufacturers that like,
they trust us to distribute their parts and get them in the hands of knowledgeable
technicians.
And so in order to do that, there needed to be some aspect of training.
And then I think where I brought some like vision into the picture was just around
the robustness of that training and what it needed to look like.
And then the opportunity to also work with schools to build out talent pipelines, to
help build out a network of technicians starting out of their education journey
through their Botech school or, or CTE program, whatever it is.
And so training has always been a part of the vision of legacy from the beginning.
But as we've.
like moved more and more into supporting more shops.
We realized how important it is in the journey of like, pretty much everybody
needs some level of training to be able to access the opportunity that
electrification is gonna provide in the automotive market.
And so that's really where the journey starts for a lot of people for sure.
Well, and I think you're, uh, you're totally right that you just, there's,
there's a part where you also just have to get your hands dirty and learn this.
And I think that's what makes your program so good as it has that element with the
training benches too.
But, um, we actually had Chris Felton or Chris Hazel on the CEO of Felton, uh, back
in December and one I'm obviously, uh, I have a 1987 Land Rover Defender 90 that
I'm looking to convert to electric.
So most of that episode was me just drooling over what their new kid is.
And I've.
heard you guys are going to be the ones importing it.
So very excited for that.
But it was really interesting talking to him about how in the EU and the UK, the
definition for when EV tech has to do or what even a converted EV has to meet is
actually pretty well fleshed out at this point.
And I know your team was kind of pushing for some of that here domestically and
also kind of having some of those discussions at the most recent SEMA event
in Las Vegas.
Is there
Any kind of updates or anything you can also share about what you're trying to
accomplish and what you're trying to find to be like those ideal recommendations for
what a qualified EV tech would be.
Yeah, absolutely.
And as you were asking that, it also sparked a thought that I had earlier that
I wanted to share when we were talking about the online program versus the
in-person too.
And a big strategy behind the reason the online programs built the way that it is,
is so that we can cover the base level, like the fundamentals of what people need
to know before they come in person and start getting to tinker in a hands-on
environment.
We don't want to preload too much of like what people need to know.
if we can accomplish it through the hands-on learning experiences when they
come in.
But we also want to make sure everybody starts at the same level playing field
when they come in for the hands-on.
That way we can be as efficient as possible with everybody's time.
So online you get to learn about Ohm's Law and Watt's Law and efficiency of EVs and
even how the type of tire you use affects range and what that looks like and how you
estimate it.
And so we go over a lot of that stuff in the online course and it's pretty
fundamental, pretty basic.
But...
It's important to have that covered before people come in.
Uh, and then yeah, on standards, we're, we're definitely heavily involved in
standards, a big reason that we started out in standards was because we're, we're
building training.
We need to have a benchmark or a watermark for what it means to be a knowledgeable
technician and all my time in education, it's, it's built around building training
programs that meet standards.
And so how do you build, uh, training programs if you don't have outcomes and if
you don't have standards to find.
And so.
Before we even started developing our programs, we defined the outcomes.
These are the standards that we want technicians who go through our course to
be able to hit.
And we spent a long time developing those standards.
We came up with like 148 and we realized, wow, there's a ton of value in these
standards and this really needs to be communicated openly to the rest of the
world.
So everybody else can say, yeah, these standards are good.
Let's take these and let's say that that's what it means to be a knowledgeable
technician and let's provide support for that endorsement.
That also means that other companies can go build programs to those same standards.
And we welcome that.
We want the best programs available for all technicians, but really what it does
for the tech is it provides an opportunity to get like manufacturer endorsement and
employer endorsement on the standards.
So we've got more than two dozen industry stakeholders endorsing those standards now
that we developed for what it means to be a knowledgeable technician.
We took them out of legacy EV and we put them in a nonprofit called the Electric
Vehicle Technician Education Council.
We're actually gonna be switching names here.
shortly likely to the electric vehicle standards council because that council has
a 12 member board and that board oversees all the standards that we amend and
ratify.
And that board has an interest in also setting standards for aftermarket battery
technology for repowers.
And the goal with this organization is not to create some like big government agency
that
tells people what they should and shouldn't do with their EVs.
It's more to provide a guiding light for self-regulation of, okay, we want to make
sure that we're all doing this the best and safest way possible.
And as a shop owner, like that's what I would want.
I would want to know what is the standard, what's the right way to do it.
And so we want to give that roadmap to people.
We're not enforcing it.
We're not like putting teeth in it and saying, yeah, to get XYZ, you have to meet
these standards.
It's just, here's the standards of what the best minds in the industry think we
should all be doing.
and let's provide this info out there for self-regulation purposes.
And that's where we're at today with it.
It's been a really fun group to be a part of.
We've got everybody from Chris Hazel from Felton to Kirk Miller from Hypercraft, to
APPEV, to AmpereV, to Revolt, to Torque Trends, you name it, Kindred Motorworks.
We've got a really wide and broad group that represents a lot of different
stakeholders.
Insurance industry is on it.
So...
Yeah, it's cool to be able to have everybody come together and have this mind
melt where we can come up with these standards and make sure that we're trying
to guide the industry in the right direction from like a cohesive and unified
front.
Which is great.
And I think something I need, uh, something the industry for sure needs just
between so many people learning all of these new things and how many variables
there are when doing a conversion.
And for those listening, I swear I'm not, uh, sponsored by legacy V, at least not
yet.
Uh, but, um, it's, it's funny you mentioned kind of one of the things that
really surprised me that I found really interesting was, uh, your team had a
Uh, it's, it's really cool.
It was an orange Chevy pickup.
I think that was done by TFL as a conversion.
And obviously they can, I did like a, I think they did like in 48 hours.
It was like the down and dirty, like quick conversion.
Uh, and so it's, it's a good kind of like test meal to show like what this could
look like, what you can do.
But what I found the most fascinating about it is when we go around, it's like,
now, if you were to do this, what would you not do?
And you can kind of find some of these like, well, I probably wouldn't have put
some of the, uh,
the disconnects and other stuff behind the battery because if you get an accident,
it's just going to go right through then destroy all that and then it might catch
on fire.
And so there's also just like this whole other level of planning and kind of
thinking through design that it like immediately makes sense.
But once again, it helps that you have that right there to see.
And it just shows that there's other there with just about anything there's right
ways and wrong ways.
And I think that program does a really good job of showing
Uh, how some people have done in ways to just like, when you're doing your own
build, how to proactively like, try to think of these things in advance to really
avoid these, uh, sorts of mistakes or potential, um, not, not that that, like
some of the stuff they did was wrong, but once again, just kind of thinking if
you're doing your building more than 48 hours, how to kind of build it in a safer
way, which I thought was really cool and really fascinating.
Yeah, absolutely.
And just so we don't get eaten alive by the gear heads out there, it was an F 100.
It was a, I think it was a 66 F 100, Ford F 100.
Yeah.
But no, you're right.
And that's something we talk about a lot.
And we, you know, even as, as a teacher, but back in the day, I'd have multiple
projects that like, if I'm trying to show students, you know, grading on a rubric is
much different than grading on a test.
And so like, let's look at these three projects and just tell me like, what do
you think this would score?
And
having them think about it and look at non-examples and examples and things that
fall in the middle is a really important process of synthesizing the learning and
seeing, okay, yeah, I wouldn't do XYZ, but I would do this.
And it's, you know, even the standards around what is safe and what is not around
the electric vehicle conversion industry has shifted a lot in the last 20 years.
I mean, we went from lead sleds to lithium ion batteries over the last decade and a
half and like.
it just looks way, way different.
And so, yeah, it's like at the time it was that vehicle that has high voltage battery
disconnects.
I think that was one of the first builds I saw with a high voltage battery
disconnect, which is wild.
And then all of a sudden it's like, okay, well, it's actually not in a great spot.
Because yeah, if you get a rear impact, then it's not in the safest place.
And yeah, it's good to be able to look at those examples and have learnings and
takeaways.
And even like MSD switches were nearly impossible to source.
four years ago when we started Legacy.
It was like really difficult to find, where can you get these from?
And now it's like, okay, we've got a good supplier.
We make this a requirement on all our kit bombs and it's included, but like that
wasn't available when we started.
And so, yeah, it's a constant progression.
And I think we're at a really good spot with safety standards now as the industry
goes, but it's gonna continue to evolve as well.
For sure.
And it's funny how you just said over the past 20 years, how EV conversions have
changed.
And I don't even think for most people, EVs were in the back of their minds for
new cars for like the last five years, but you're totally right.
Like you can go onto YouTube, you can see all these videos and there, there have
been a lot of groups that have been doing this for a couple of decades, but it's so
funny how it was so much of a home brew experiment kind of like, it was up there
with like, Oh yeah, I've got an old Mercedes that runs biodiesel or I'm
brewing a small batch of beer in my garage.
Like it's a very, it was a very experimental kind of just like a small
group of people kind of tinkering with this to now a much more advanced, much
more thought out kind of way of doing these builds and even not even doing the
builds, but doing the builds as kits.
Whereas before it was kind of like, I might have to kind of figure this out,
drill that hole and figure it out.
Whereas now you can actually buy kits for these conversions that go right onto like
the old engine mounts, making the conversions so much simpler and honestly
safer.
Yeah, totally.
I think even when, when we started legacy, we kind of were at this like inflection
point of like, if you're doing conversions now, you're definitely still like
pioneering here, you could make the first electric vehicle that's been in that make
and model that's, that's ever existed.
We still have customers that are like, that's never been electrified before.
That's super cool.
It's going to be awesome.
Um, but the industry is growing so fast that it's like.
becoming less and less about pioneering and more and more about using products
with established reputation.
It's really interesting to see that shift go from like, we're supporting
manufacturers that were making things in their garage.
Now it's like they have manufacturing plants and they have distribution through
us.
The industry is really, really taking off.
It's been really cool to be able to see that from the moment we entered to where
we're at today.
It's only been four years.
but it's like so much has happened in that four years.
It's wild.
So I hope that someday somebody like makes a documentary about the EV conversion
industry and we can talk about these stories of the craziness of how it started
and where we're at today.
But yeah, it's definitely, things are getting a lot simpler.
Plug and play kits, bolt on systems for specific vehicles.
Felton does a great job of that.
APP does a great job of that.
It's really cool to see how this all comes together.
Yeah.
And I actually, uh, I am kind of curious to learn more about maybe some of the
requirements you have for finding vendors or like which are kind of some things that
maybe you don't go with, but, uh, real, real quickly, can I think tag a lot of
these themes together was I know legacy V had a large presence at SEMA this past
year and I'm not, were you at SEMA as well or
I was.
I had to fly out for a day because I had a meeting back in Phoenix that I had to be
at.
But other than that, I was there.
Yeah, gotcha.
And admittedly, I really wanted to be there, but it's coincidentally the weekend
I was getting married.
So that didn't work out this year.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
But it's funny as it is, my wife even says like, well, we can go to Vegas next year
for our anniversary or something.
And I used to go to Vegas all the time for work.
So that to me is like kind of disappointing.
But I do actually want to go to SEMA.
So that was kind of the part I was excited about.
And everyone I talked to, it really sounded like this past year was the year
that
Instead of like electric vehicle and kind of rest of mods being in the back, it
really was a pretty big portion of it and pretty front and center.
Were there any things that really stood out to you?
And is that pretty accurate of what your experience was too?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, the industry's come a long, long way.
You know, when we first displayed at SEMA in 2021, Mitchell from Torque Trends was
there.
And I remember that year, the Monday, like opening ceremony, they had their like
feature vehicles drive over this stage.
It's just for industry and exhibitors and of the seven that drove over this, this
stage to display and talk about the hype of the show.
Four of them were EV and it was like, whoa, this is crazy.
Like we're showing up on the scene in perfect timing.
And then you walk into the show and Mitch from Torchlands will tell you like, I was
here 10 years ago and this is the only EV company.
Like there's nobody here.
There's maybe one or two other EV things, you know, nothing.
Nothing like what there is today.
And that year, I think there were seven EV companies at SEMA, maybe five, but still
it was like.
That's dramatic growth, right?
That's big.
And so felt like, okay, yeah, this is the time.
But all of us were spread out.
None of us were next to each other.
We were just all over the show floor.
And then the next year, a few more EV companies.
And then this year, they brought all of us together in the electrified zone or the
future tech, propulsion tech zone.
And it was massive.
It was really cool to see all the technology, all the cars.
It was definitely something that like...
people were coming from all corners of the expo.
You'd get people coming from Apex, which is way down the strip at Venetian.
Be like, I had to see what was going on.
I heard you guys are converting a vehicle live.
I just needed to see it.
And so we would have like literally people standing outside our booth.
We had big TV screens up, like facing down so people could see the action.
And then we had four alumni from our program working together to convert the
Model A Project E from gas to electric and drove in gas.
And it left electric.
four days later, which was super cool.
Something that's never been done before at SEMA.
And so it was really fun to be able to show that to people and then show the
quality of our training for techs who had not met each other coming together and
working to convert a vehicle from gas to electric was pretty awesome.
Yeah, that was, uh, I forgot about that.
That's a great, I'm glad you brought that up.
That was such a cool thing that your team did there where you actually had a ice,
uh, model a drive in and then, and from what I had heard, it was even like you had
to even stretch out like the fourth day it had converted so quickly to electric that
you're like, Oh, okay, let's kind of slow these things down.
So we make it by that fourth day, but that, that just kind of shows how
impressive and how much that like I'm talking about with the kit.
Kind of the product tie, a productization of this, instead of it being a one-off
kind of like homebrew build, having these just interchangeable and easy off the
shelf parts really makes this much more feasible for a lot of people.
Uh, and I think a lot more approachable for traditional mechanics as well.
Yeah, totally.
And I'll give you the inside scoop here on, I guess, maybe like how that's
possible to even get done.
And the first piece is a huge shout out to Felton there.
Universal Pack is a huge piece of what is going to allow conversions to be done way
quicker.
And so you talked about this a little bit earlier, but I'll also note that Legacy V
is now the distributor for that product in North America.
So you can come and get it from us and we can help support you with implementing
that product into your project, which is going to cut build time down by a ton.
the biggest time suck of an EV conversion.
So having that done for you is huge.
And then realistically, we built that car, and I wanna say about a month before we
came to SEMA.
So we had built it, we had then taken it apart and then put it back together to
test, to prove that we can do this, we can get it done in four days.
So the motor mounts, the brackets for the battery box that are gonna fix it to the
chassis, all that stuff was done.
So it's not like we were fabricating and welding there at the show, we had all that
stuff pre-done.
But I mean, we did it in, I want to say like six and a half hours or something
like that, because we had to give people longer lunch breaks.
We had to spread it out.
And so it just shows the opportunity for these kits that are make model specific,
how fast you can get it done.
And then even then the amount of work that went into it before the show was, was not
some, you know, outrageous lift.
It was a much simpler version of what, what is normally done when you have that
pack ready to go.
So that was very cool to be able to use that and show it at SENA.
Yeah, no, I think that was just a really one great press for you guys, but to just
a really cool way to show that this has gone to a point now and how quickly you
can do it.
And once again, once you kind of hone in on certain types, certain models and
specific builds, I mean, like Fellten's doing, they've got a Mini Cooper, they've
got a Porsche and obviously the Defender kids that really dials in what you need to
do and makes it so much easier.
Which I guess does make me wonder.
I'd heard that the defender build was coming sometime in Q2 of this year through
you guys.
Is that still or is that something you can share any more details on?
I can't share any more details on it right now, but that is correct.
That is the plan for that kit and there is a ton of interest in it, so I'll just
throw this out there that if people are interested, reach out.
We've got a queue of people that are lining up to be able to get their hands on
that product and we're really excited to be able to launch it and it's going to be
big for sure.
Yeah, I can't wait.
I know I emailed Tim and so I've been in that queue myself for already a couple of
months, but just everything I've seen even on Felton's website and talking to Chris,
it looks like it's such an awesome product.
So I'm excited to see it.
Um, so, uh, kind of going about that, talking about Felton, talking about some
of these other vendors, can you share some of the, um, and obviously I realized maybe
you can't always say names, but can you share what legacy EV does to like kind of
vet a vendor and
how they choose which ones to work with.
And if there are any entertaining stories of like, okay, we're not going with those
guys.
Obviously you don't have to say the company, but if you can share anything
about that, like kind of happens, because I mean, in my own professional experience,
I've had to sometimes test vendors and you can be quickly surprised by, even though
you put out a really clear RFP of what you need, it hasn't made it past the first 10
minutes of unboxing it even.
Yeah, yeah, I don't know if I have any like negative stories that I can share or
would share, but that's definitely the value we try and bring to the industry as
a distributor.
We want to vet products that we trust.
And so I talked about this a little bit earlier, but we have parts distribution as
kind of like one arm of the business and then education as the other arm.
And the third arm that we don't talk about very often is research and development
R&D.
So we have a whole...
R&D shop that is like the necessary third leg to the stool that makes it all stand
up because we bring these products in from new vendors and we want to validate them
and make sure that they work.
So we have like two kind of different types of products that we offer when it
comes to EV hardware on our site.
There's kits and then there's parts.
And so when a product comes to us as a kit, it gets validated and installed
before it gets launched as a kit.
So then it'll come with a wiring diagram.
It's got a bill of material that's been spec'd out.
and then it's got the clone file for the firmware that can get flashed onto that
vehicle once it gets installed.
These are universal kits, so they're not the same as what you'd get with a Felton
Land Rover Defender kit.
It's not this bolt-on wire harness is prefabbed.
There's wiring that you're gonna do, you're gonna connect it all, but that
means it's a little bit more malleable into the vehicle, so you can design it how
you'd like.
And so creates this universal platform that's then more applicable to a wider set
of vehicles.
And so whenever we, we launch a kit, we do some bedding with the manufacturer.
We get their product, uh, in-house, we work with it.
I mean, that's, that's what we did with the Felton pack before we launched it.
We installed it in project D, we put it through the test spaces and, um, we're
comfortable with that product before we launched it, because we also want to be
able to support the manufacturer's product out there in the wild once we launch it.
And so, um, it's just a part of, part of what we do with our R and D department
before we launch a product, um, at least in the kit form, sometimes.
You know, if we can see substantial application, verification from a
manufacturer on like a motor, then we might offer it if we know that it's a
motor that has a reputation that we can get behind in support without doing the
R&D.
But when it comes to kits, that's stuff that we've worked with.
Yeah, I'm kind of curious.
I know it does seem like you guys are going much more towards the kits and a
fully new systems.
But I know you've also sold like, uh, and I mean, this was a pretty common thing is
used, uh, Tesla power trains, used batteries from other cars.
Is that something you're still kind of continuing to do, or do you kind of see
the future probably moving maybe more away from them?
You know, it's interesting.
Um, since the beginning, um, you know, one thing that Rob has said is like, this
industry is going to be way bigger than how many Teslas can, can get totaled.
Um, we need access to more parts than just refurbished Tesla equipment.
Um, and so that's been a huge part of it.
Wanting to create all new products for these kits that are like brand new off the
shelf, out of the box.
That that's what we want the customer experience to be.
But.
The Tesla name carries a lot of weight, right?
And so people are really excited to be able to use a Tesla swap and, uh, as their
description and Tesla swap product.
So we, we still sell a lot of Tesla equipment.
And I think for us, we're, our goal is to serve the industry and what the industry
wants to see.
And so we just have our finger on the pulse to see, okay, Tesla stuff's moving.
Let's make sure we, we keep it stocked in an inventory and we have documentation
from the manufacturers that can support it.
And then, you know, let's also make sure we have.
the best new product offerings that are coming out.
And that's something that's evolving really quickly as well.
If you're at SEMA, I know you weren't at SEMA, but for anybody listening that was
like, there's so many new products at that show this year, it was wild.
And so even the product offerings that we had this year at the show, double what we
had the year before as a distributor, right?
That's significant change in an industry.
And so that's another value add that we.
we bring to the customer, just paying attention to what is new in this space.
What's the best products available on the market, whether it's controls or motor,
hardware, battery, you name it.
Yeah, no, I think that's great.
I'm curious, are there any technology specifically that you've kind of seen the
past year that you've like what you're talking about at SEMA that really kind of
seems to be a kind of leap forward or kind of big step for making this a lot more, a
lot easier and much more approachable.
Um, I'm really excited about controller hardware in 2024.
Um, I think that there's some new offerings coming to market that are going
to change user interface and how the builder interacts with the components in a
kit.
Um, and I think that's going to be really cool to see.
I can't talk too much about it now, but for people that are interested, like
subscribe to our newsletter and you'll see as stuff comes out.
Um, but I think that's a big one.
And then, uh, yeah, battery technology is, I mean,
It's shifting battery packs coming to market that just make things way easier to
do.
It's super cool.
So I think packs and controllers are the two that I'm looking forward to.
But then, I mean, there's a 800 volt Tremec motor that makes like a thousand
horse that's also at SEMA.
So excited to see that.
It's hard to pick, I don't know.
But controllers and batteries, I'll stick with that.
That's my first and final answer.
Well, and I think those are things that will impact everyone and make their lives
a lot easier.
The thousand horsepower motor will be definitely very cool, but probably much
more limited use cases with, um, and I realized like within like the last couple
of years, especially in the automotive space, so much of this has been supply
chain.
It's like one month.
It's this is hard to get another month.
This is hard to get.
Um, has there been anything that you guys have kind of consistently seen or just has
been a challenge, you know, for builders that, um,
for certain parts to either get or certain parts that you guys do a really good job
of making sure you have.
So for a builder that's trying to find X, Y, C part, you are kind of the guys.
I'll definitely have it.
Yeah, well, yeah, there's a lot I could talk about in that question.
There's, there's a lot to it.
I think anybody who's done a conversion before sees a ton of value in what we
bring because there's like 60 different components from multiple, like probably
close to two dozen manufacturers that you got to source parts from to just get like
a working kit.
And then on top of that, now you've got supply chain delays and
I mean, we've seen so many things impacting supply chain.
I never thought I'd be subscribed to like a supply chain newsletter, but like I'm
like watching ocean freight news and I'm like, oh my gosh, MERSC is like routing
ships around the southern tip of Africa because there's pirates in the canal.
Like they're doing things that are different.
I'm like, why am I, why is this my life?
Why am I paying attention to this now?
But it's just the reality of where we're at as an industry.
The supply chain is
still recovering post COVID.
And so it's really hard to get components and equipment, especially internationally.
And so it's definitely one of the biggest things that we spend time focusing on.
I have weekly supply chain meetings with our supply chain team.
Like, okay, what are we, what do we low stock on?
What's the lead time?
What do we need to do to get it here?
And so we have orders that are waiting on components that have been waiting on
components for a couple of weeks and or more in some cases.
And that's always hard to have a conversation with a customer where it's
like, yeah.
This DC to DC converter is out of stock and it's not going to be in stock for
another eight weeks.
I'm sorry.
Like we're going to work on it.
We'll get more.
We'll get it to see as fast as we can.
So anybody that's tried to navigate that on their own is like thankful that we're
navigating it for them.
But anybody that's new to it is like, doesn't understand there's like 60
components that we got at source from all over the world to make this thing work.
And it's complicated.
That's a big part of it.
And then yeah, diving into like what specifically is a bottleneck, I think
Transmission adapter plates is the one that comes to mind of like, there's not a
lot of manufacturers for transmission adapter plates and they're often made off
of molds and so you have to order them in larger batches to be able to get them at
low cost.
And so it just creates complications for the manufacturer because they're like,
okay, I have one for this obscure year vehicle that we have designed, but I need
eight more to be able to do a run that I can make these at an affordable price.
And so.
That's something that will change with volume as the industry gets bigger.
Um, but that's something that has been, I think, a big bottleneck for builders.
It's like, they're waiting for, for three months, sometimes for a transmission
adapter plate and it's like, everything's mounted and ready to go.
I just need to be able to mate the motor to the transmission.
Like how long will that take?
And that's always tough when somebody's ready to go and they have to wait for a
part.
yeah, that's super fascinating.
You actually say that I should talk with the offline, but there is a couple of guys
locally that have a CNC shop.
They're actually looking, they were asking me if there's a need for that.
I figured there was, um, their focus is really traditional four by fours, uh, old
G wagons and defenders.
Um, but yeah, I mean, that's, that's really interesting and that totally makes
sense, but I can definitely intro you to them if that fits with you guys.
But, um,
Have there ever been anything?
I mean, it sounds like the and it totally makes sense the way you guys are doing
stuff.
But it has your team ever looked at ever manufacturing certain things that
themselves or is that kind of still out of the realm of being practical for the team?
It's not that it's not practical for us.
The opportunity has arisen countless times for us, but we are laser focused as a
company on being a parts distributor.
And the importance of staying away from manufacturing as a parts distributor is we
don't want to manufacture a product that competes with our vendor partners.
We want to just support the products that manufacturers make the best that we can.
And that allows us to stay laser focused on how can we sell your product better?
How can we support it better?
And then how can we help find opportunities to create other products
that can support it better?
And so we have open dialogue with our manufacturing partners of like, we need
XYZ products to better support what you've designed out there in the wild.
And, um, that just helps us stay laser focused.
There's definitely an opportunity and we've definitely been like tempted by it
in the past, but have definitely like, definitely stayed focused on.
We're a parts distributor, we are not a manufacturer.
Let's let the manufacturers manufacture and we will support the product.
That makes sense.
And yeah, I was just curious, but totally understand that.
Um, given that we have been talking so much about EV conversions.
And when I was there, I can mention as you corrected me, the Ford F 100, that was
kind of a fun thing, but you guys also had that beautiful old Cadillac.
Um, and I I'm kind of curious what conversions you've been wanting to do.
If, or if there's any other kind of car that your team hasn't done yet, that you
really are kind of excited to do a conversion of.
Um, yeah, that's a good question.
I, so one series that I'm really excited for that we're hoping to launch this year,
which we haven't really talked about yet.
So I'll tell you here first, just kind of on the inside scoop is we plan to do.
Yeah.
Uh, a high low series where we convert like probably, uh, an older, pretty,
pretty nice C 10 and then convert, uh, like a little bit newer, but still, still
older S 10.
and do the C10 really high budget and do the S10 really low budget and then take
them to car shows and like compete against Each other about who can get like more
street cred for the budget that we've sent So it'll be like two hundred fifty
thousand dollar budget verse twenty five thousand dollar budget I don't know if
those are the numbers, but that's the plan And so if anybody knows Rob and I he's
obviously the high budget guy and I'm obviously the low budget guy I was trying
to finagle my way into the carpool lane
Yeah, almost 10 years ago now.
I mean, and he's, yeah, he likes nice cars and I like saving money.
So we'll see, we'll see who's can be who's in the competition, but that'll be fun.
So are you going to convert an old VW Jetta?
Is that what you're thinking?
Or is there any car in particular that stands out?
Or you've got something secret you want to wait till.
Well, my team will do the S10.
That'll be my car and Rob's will be the C10.
So that'll be the first one.
But I'd really like to do an old.
if those cards had been chosen yet for sure.
I gotcha gotcha.
Great.
a personal vehicle, we did an FJ80 and I love that car.
Like that, if I could just pick one to do, that would be the one that I do.
Just because it's fun.
I was able to do a lot of the test mileage on that car before it was shipped out to
the customer.
I just love driving it.
Another one that I'd love to do is a Fox Body Mustang.
It's a tribute to vanilla ice and the 5.0.
No, I think that'd be a great one too, just because you've seen so many and at
Dunwoody, they're great at the classic Mustangs, but to see the Fox spotter, I
feel like those have kind of had a bit of a resurgence, especially when you're
talking about street cred that right now seems to be one of the hot ones.
Um, and then.
They weren't very popular for a long time and they've come up a little bit in
popularity now, but they're still, they're not the coolest Mustang, that's for sure.
But I think it would be really fun, especially to try and do it on kind of
like a budget build and keep a manual transmission and do some burnouts.
It'd be a good time.
Yeah, that'd be perfect for that.
And it's funny you say the FG 80 because that was, I was looking at either that or
an FG 60 before we got the defender.
Um, and have now gone down the probably less reliable, but more expensive.
And just, I'm so in love with defenders now.
I mean, I, I still love the, the Toyota's, uh, the land cruisers and all of that.
Just that whole generation from FG 40, 60 and 80 and beyond.
But I think really the 1680 are my personal favorites.
But yeah, I would love to see more of those conversions and see what people do,
especially more for like making a specifically off road build and kind of
doing some really cool stuff with them.
Totally.
Now with everything you guys are doing, like where do you see like the industry
kind of headed towards in like the next five years?
Do you see it just really fully taking off or do you see kind of certain trends or
any like kind of goals you guys have that you want to see kind of take off more over
the next five years?
Yeah, I mean, I think we're going to continue to see really rapid growth,
similar to what we have seen in the last four years, but I think just at a larger
scale.
I think the introduction of some of this technology for manufacturers that makes
the conversion a little bit simpler is going to be a big part of what helps
catalyze that growth.
And then I think education is the other big piece of it that helps people to adopt
the technology more.
And so I think just more of those things for sure out there.
I think we're going to also see...
an era of people doing stuff to their OEM EVs.
You have the one of the only Kia EV6s in your neighborhood, but you're like, I want
it to be different once the second one shows up.
You're like, oh, I want this to be cool and unique.
And so what can I do to customize this car?
And I think that'll be something we're seeing.
We're seeing it a lot in the Tesla Model 3 world right now.
I'm just like, what kind of body kits can you add?
air ride or different things, you know, and so I think that's going to happen a
lot in EV and Stay tuned for what our presence will look like in that space as
well We're supporting a couple projects around that and excited to support the
consumer and modifying their existing EVs Yeah, and then I think just the bigger
footprint with training I think college is adopting programs that focus around the EV
conversion is going to be a big part of it because we can leverage What their
programs currently teach around gas-powered technology?
and then enhance that through the gas to electric conversion.
Very cool.
And I'm kind of curious.
I know we talked with Chris also about this around fast charging as kind of being
a more common option, maybe in EVs.
I think it's a little more defined also in the European market for that.
But is that something you guys are also kind of paying attention to and kind of
seeing an interest in that?
Or is it mostly these are just kind of viewed as a second kind of cars for around
town.
Yeah, you know, it's interesting when we started it wasn't available.
People would ask, can we fast charge yet?
And we'd be like, not yet.
We know manufacturers are working on it, but it's not there yet.
And it's here now.
You can fast charge.
Amper EV has a system that you can fast charge.
The Felton pack is capable of fast charging.
Actually, we were just talking about it the other day.
We took it to a couple of different fast chargers to test how it did.
And it fast charged on multiple.
JJ was just telling me about that this morning.
And so.
It's here.
It's available.
Super cool that it's available in the aftermarket.
That's gonna make it much more accessible for people, too Yeah, we're excited about
it
Well, I, and I, I just want to say thank you so much for this matter.
Cause I realized we're kind of coming up on our time here and I could easily keep
asking you questions probably for another hour, if not two.
Um, but thank you so much.
And for sure, we'll probably have to have you on soon, especially once this defender
kit goes live because.
I can't, I, my, I know my wife is even tired of me talking about it.
Uh, since I can't even look at what it is beyond kind of the spec page that's
already up there, but, um.
Thank you so much.
This is great.
And I know our listeners have really enjoyed kind of learning more about this
space and having people like you on.
Of course, thank you for having me.
It was fun to get to chat and excited to see your Defender project take off and be
a part of that.
It's going to be awesome.
Thank you.
Same here.
My pleasure.
With that, we'll let you get going.
I hope you've enjoyed this deep dive with Mavrick, the co -founder of Legacy EV into
the realm of electric vehicles, electric conversions, and the vital importance of
education for shaping the future of the industry.
Legacy EV is not just an aftermarket automotive company, but a catalyst for
change in the electric vehicle space, providing parts distribution and
invaluable workforce development opportunities.
They're also providing hands -on learning experiences that are driving the force
behind mastering EV technology.
and helping push the industry to implement safe standards for EV technicians to
follow.
This is ensuring a bright and sustainable future for the EV industry, and I was
really honored to be able to share this with you today.
As we heard, despite supply chain challenges, Legacy EV remains committed to
overcoming obstacles and delivering top quality conversion solutions.
As we look ahead, the electric vehicle future is brighter than ever with exciting
projects on the horizon, industry growth, and really limitless
Customization possibilities for electric vehicle enthusiasts.
I know I am for one excited about what this kind of unlocks, especially for a lot
of traditional cars that probably didn't have the best power train, even when they
were combustion engine, but may have had a great exterior and interior.
And this really kind of is able to give these cars a second chance, along with
really making it much easier for people who may have a family car that they've
always had strong kind of like.
emotional connection to but now with this ability they can actually kind of not only
make electric but just also bring down the maintenance to make sure it stays in the
family for much longer.
So we really hope you're charged up about the future of electric vehicles as we are
after this convo with Mavrick and be sure to stay connected with us here at Grid
Connections for more episodes and insights into the world of
Until next week, remember, whether you're a seasoned electric vehicle enthusiast or
new to the world of electric mobility, the Grid Connections podcast is your go -to
source for all things EV and how they tie to our ever -changing electrical grid.
Thank you.