EV Insights with EY

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Connect With Katie Johar and Courtney Dusseau 

Transcript

Elena: At the Auto Intel Summit, this is part two of a three part series that we’re doing live at the Auto Intel Summit. And I am here with Katie and Courtney from EY and I’m excited for you guys to be here.

Katie: We are so excited to be here, Elena. I’m Katie Johar, I lead our automotive and captive finance practice for EY and I’m really excited to talk about EVs. I really think it hasn’t always been as exciting to be in auto finance and trying to recruit our next generation in you know, come learn about cars. They’re like Oh EVs. We want to talk about EV so I’m really excited to be here.

Courtney: Thank you so much, Elena for having us. My name is Courtney Dusseau, I work with Katie and the automotive captive and equipment, finance space. Definitely excited to be here. Definitely excited to talk about the future and understand where we’re going and how we need to be open to change and evolving as human beings which changes the devil Right? Very excited to talk about EVs.

Elena: Talking a little bit more at the granular level about EVs and how you really see the EV market evolving over the next decade. I know that’s kind of a long time, and what role not only your EV is going to play, but also hybrids.

Katie: I’ll turn it over to Courtney and let her go first. Because I know she she’s my stats person.

Courtney: No, thank you. Thank you. Well, I think you know EVs. You know, maybe a few years ago, when you started talking about it, it was kind of like that new shoe out there. Right? It was the new, you know, shiny object. I think, you know, the past year or so we’ve really seen a climb in market share. And I think getting to 2030, where we think that at least 50% of new car vehicle purchases are going to be evey. I think that’s going to happen. And we may even be surprised and may be able to surpass that. So I think that, you know, individuals that are more tech enabled, and what that digital experience are more apt to look to purchase an electric vehicle. And I think more folks are realizing that it’s more attainable for them, whether it be lease or subscription models or shared ride options. And so I think that again, it was something five years ago, we thought it was the future was not going to be part of my lifetime. But it’s here.

Katie: I think all that’s right, Courtney, I’d add to that, that with the rise in integration of technology in EVs especially, it gives rise more to connected car. And so I think that’s one of the most exciting things as we think about EVs is what are these vehicles going to do for us? And it’s not that ice vehicles can’t. But the buyer of an EV thinks about it as a computer on wheels, the buyer of an ICE vehicle may or may not see it that way. And so how do you think about the fact that EVs do require over the air updates, right, the to service them is very expensive, and the average car buyer doesn’t have that type of capital right out front to be able to put into their vehicle. And so how do we think about providing holistic financing options to these customers as we go forward, and it’s a click of the button, right when my car tells me that it needs something, because it’s self diagnosis and tells me I need new tires, I can click a button, it can check my calendar and tell me when I might be able to squeeze an appointment. And because it’s integrated with a service system that tells me what their availability of appointments are. And then it tells me and by the way, here’s this dollar sign price tag that, you know, makes you hit the floor. But by the way, here are some financing options for that. And by the way, we can also consolidate that into your current payment billing. So it’s the easy button for how we go forward and manage vehicles in the future.

Elena: Yeah, I love everything that both of you had said. And I think the connected aspect is here and growing and here to stay. And then so it’s layering on top of what’s already happening with electrification, add that layer of connectivity. What do you feel like, are some of the biggest challenges and we can even talk about myths?

Courtney: I think definitely, there’s charging anxiety out there. Right? We had kind of spoken about this a little bit before. And while there appears to be a lot of charging stations out there, all or bits or pieces of it aren’t working aren’t functional, or they don’t have the level of charge capabilities that your battery may may need. Right? We were talking about our cell phone, right? And if you happen to use a third party charger to your phone, it actually kills your battery it does the opposite, right? What is that going to mean to your vehicle and how are you going to think about that? And so I think it’s very important that you know as a society and as you know, our government agencies, right, give the right incentives to dealers, you know, bring a customer into the door allow them to charge for free, right? It’s not just a free cup of coffee and the Wi Fi, but what else can they offer them while they’re charging? Right? It’s taking different experiences, like you have the wall was in the Buckees, right? Where you pull up and there’s over 100 pumps, is it going to be an hour over 100? You know, charging stations and oh, by the way, Mom, you know, and daughter get to go shop and you know, Dad gets to go enjoy some brisket or what have you, you know, and so I just think it’s going to naturally evolve. And I hope that that helps from an anxiety perspective. And it helps with the shift.

Katie: I think it becomes less of charging anxiety, because I think you can get people behind the fact that there will be more charging stations and with government regulations, and the push to EVs will come the actual stations, but it’s a little bit more about range anxiety, can I make it to a charging station, some of the research shows that the average person drives less than 50 miles a day. And you mentioned hybrids before Elena. So I’d say this opens more of an opportunity. I think we’re seeing more of this in the market with the plug in hybrids. If the average person is driving less than 50 miles a day, can we put smaller batteries in vehicles, we’re still driving towards the sustainability goals, because the majority of the time we are operating off of a battery. But then we have the opportunity to drive further without that range anxiety because my gas will just kick in. I had this conversation with my father recently. And he’s like, I’ll never buy an EV. I said, but would you buy a plug in hybrid because you could drive to my house on gas because I live far enough away. But you could you know, tool around town and beyond your battery he’s like that I would consider. So I think it’s all about perspective. And it’s also very generational.

Elena: I won’t ask any like doozy questions here, but I will ask one off the cuff question, which I promise will not be difficult. I know that you guys did a presentation at this conference about the metaverse. Although this podcast is not about the metaverse, I would love for you to just give me like a like a highlight or a little bullet point.

Katie: I think for me in researching and preparing to talk about the metaverse, my aha moment in that was really the messaging that the metaverse is an omni channel opportunity. It’s not oh, we’re everybody’s headed to the metaverse, it’s how do you incorporate this into what you’re thinking about? I’d say the second one for me, as I was talking to some of my colleagues who are much deeper in this space than I am was the tax implications and the regulatory implications because you are in this boundless environment. So what do you follow as you get into that? And I was like, Oh, what do you tell me more? And so I think that, you know, organizations who start thinking that way, those are the leaders in the market.

Courtney: I think there was two things for me is just one the ability to reach more people. Right. One of the examples that I brought up during our discussion was around the auto shows, right? And it’s hitting, you know, goes around the country travels around the country, and it’s only hitting a specific demographic, right, those who are living in those cities, or those who can afford to get to those cities, right. And so often, you know, most of our car buyers are not there, and they’re not able to experience and through the metaverse, right, they can be walking through that auto show, they can be seen the products and the marketing that the companies and the OEMs have out there for what’s coming in the next few years. Right. I also think it’s an ability for companies to break down barriers from a language perspective, right where we have Elena’s avatar and she’s talking in three different languages that she didn’t know she could do on the fly instantly speaking to a customer to help them complete a transaction. And so I think it’ll help break down some barriers there and open up opportunities.

Elena: Clearly we need to do a follow up episode. There is so much content here. I love it. Love it, love it. But thank you to Katie, thank you to Courtney. I love having you guys on this podcast. Thank you for taking the time out. I know you’re very busy and so excited to just continue to learn more from you because your insights are so valuable. Thank you once again for being on.

Katie: Thanks so much for the opportunity, Elena.