EVery EV Considerer needs to hear this

Episode Highlights:

 

(0:00) – Introduction

(0:37) – Episode beginning

(1:11) – More information on Matt’s company, Chargeway

(3:18) – What is missing in terms of educating dealers and consumers?

(5:16) – Chargeway being used as a “closing tool” for dealers

(10:14) – One of those big obstacles to wider adoption and how Chargeway addresses it

(12:10) – Where to find out more about Chargeway

(13:44) – Episode wrap-up

Links

Connect With Matt Teske

Check out Chargeway

Transcript

Elena: So we’re at NADA almost, well halfway done NADA nearing the halfway point the days get all mixed up when you’re here for more than 48 hours. I am here with Matt from Chargeway he is the founder and CEO, Matt, how you doing this morning?

Matt: I’m doing well. It’s like I said I got my feet under me yesterday was a very busy day a lot of talking. I’m glad I didn’t lose my voice.

Elena: I’m certainly glad didn’t lose your voice and I’m sorry to make your talk even more. But I promise this will be the easiest meeting of your day / podcast recording. So we’re going to talk about EV education but first and foremost before we get into that glorious topic. We’re going to talk about Chargeway and the mission of Chargeway how you got started. I always love founder stories, so hit me with it.

Matt: So my background is I’ve been in automotive for over 20 years and most of that work has been in marketing communications and strategy worked on a lot of specialty vehicle programs for the SEMA show over the years different OEMs like General Motors and Toyota, a lot of my work was focused on creating enthusiasm around automotive products and then understanding what would excite people about those products. So I had a unique lens, I think from my experience to how I can approach the EV world and through my own ownership experience. I realized that really explaining how charging works is really fundamental to the ownership experience. And that really is where it was my own goof up that I had on a road trip with my wife when we got our first EV and called ahead ask them if they had charging they said yes, didn’t turn out that way and I got walked over to a shed that had an outlet. And so obviously I was embarrassed. But my wife was very polite about it and said, aren’t you a car guy? And I said I used to be but that was kind of the moment of realization and from that what it turned into was how do we then make this easy for everyone else? That’s what exactly my wife asked me. So Chargeway was built around how do we make it easy? How do we simplify all the complexities, the plug types and power levels you need to learn? And that’s really what we’re focused on and from there was making it something that was visually approachable and so turning the plug types into simple colors and turning power levels into simple numbers. So you can have a wayfinding system that works for both identifying how fast your car can charge and how fast a station can charge you. And then putting that into a software platform. So we have a mobile app for iOS and Android that drivers can download. And we work with dealerships and utilities around the US with our platform inside the showroom that really introduces people to how all this works. And so it’s really meant to be a system for both the industry and for drivers.

Elena: I love it and the story about the plug in the shed is classic because I don’t feel like that experience is unique. It’s sad but true. Right. So which is why Chargeway is so needed. We are literally talking over a presentation right now. So we’re gonna make this work. So my question for you Matt is what is missing? We know that there’s a lot missing but what is missing in training dealers and then dealers to be able to educate consumers on EVs. So what’s the missing component if you can narrow it down to a few because there’s a lot right?

Matt: Well, I think the the thing that we focused on was what we haven’t all thought about in ages, which is we don’t really talk about how to fill up a gas car. We just all kind of just go do it. And it’s a very simple process. It’s a liquid, there’s a price on a big sign. You can see it from a distance, and it doesn’t take that much to just operate that process. So we haven’t thought about that for ages. And what we’re asking people to do is use a new fuel type to replace the gasoline experience. And I think one of the biggest issues of EV ownership and just even selling an EV is walking people through that lifestyle experience and it really does depend on how they live and where they live. If you have a home you can fill up at home almost 90 to 95% of the time. With electricity that’s really easy. And then road tripping you can find where your charges are using a trip planner like charge way but if you do not have a home where you can charge at night, then you really have to ask yourself how do I go find my electric fuel and sales reps need to be able to navigate that conversation so they understand their customer more effectively for the EV purchase. And then in turn, those EV buyers need to have a tool that really meets their needs. And so that kind of defines the process and ecosystem that we looked at for Chargeway was how do we give a tool to the dealers where they can explain charging for any vehicle, any charging network, any charger type, but then also had that exact same solution to their customers to take it with them in their pocket and create an ecosystem that when the customer is going through it, it feels very consistent. It feels very simple. It allows for simple training and showrooms. That was really what we sat back and asked ourselves was it’s a big undertaking, but if we can simplify it for everybody, then we can actually be more effective.

Elena: A million percent and also to what we chatted about briefly yesterday was Chargeway is make, model, vehicle agnostic. So talk a little bit more about how dealerships are potentially using this as a closing tool. Right?

Matt: Well, that’s exactly it, it’s designed for every independent use case. So it’s not going to show you where all the charging is it’s going to be tailored to the experience of the dealership or the drivers so and the dealers they’ve they don’t even know that going in half the time they might get some basic information from the OEM about different plug names a different power levels, but they don’t necessarily understand that not every network is nationwide and it may be that you as a driver need to use multiple networks on a road trip, things of that nature. So really what we focused on was saying it really comes down to the independent use case the buyer, and each of the sales reps need to know how to then navigate that. And so the platform was designed for the outside based on focus groups is instead of going to evey drivers, we went to average people knowing what they would have to learn and walking them into that conversation to see how they would respond naturally because early adopters of EVs were very passionate that were they are very passionate people. I’m one of them, but you had to want to learn it. And instead of that, how did we make it so well? You don’t have to want to learn this we can make it so turnkey, that you don’t goof it up. And it really comes back to what car you’re choosing. And then from there, how does that tool work for a dealership, whether it’s online or in the showroom? And that’s what our software does for dealers, but then also what does it do for drivers as we hand them off into the ownership experience? And it really came down to all right, all the feedback we got from focus groups was, well which stations do I go to based on my car? And then how long do I have to wait if it’s not a universal charge time? And how do you help me see that quickly on a map based on what my needs might be? Because you might be on a road trip and want to get back on the road and you know, half hour 15 minutes, but you also have you stopping for lunch and have the kids with you and you might say we need an hour and a half break. Therefore you don’t necessarily need to choose the highest power level then you might have an option to something lower and it still will work for your needs. That’s an element of learning about how electric fuel works. And the dealers that have to be able to explain that without sounding like they’re, you know, electrical engineers and then the last piece so knowing which stations work for you, knowing how long the charge time takes. And then also how do you visualize a road trip? How do you know you will be able to make it with confidence. And so our platform does that it has the station finder for your EV a charge time estimator for your EV and a road trip planner for your EV so it’s a personalized system that the sales reps can then use to your point they can close sales more effectively because they’re not guessing.

Elena: And that’s also what I like about Chargeway too as well as it’s not using like technical jargon. It’s like it’s going to take this amount of time for you to reach this amount of charge for your vehicle which is great because what we were talking about yesterday is like I don’t know about the 9010 point jigawatts that I need to go to my grandma’s house. Like I just want to know how long in minutes. So going back to Okay, simplification and this is such a huge question because there’s so much information chartway does so much to solve this problem of finding electric fuel on the road. Right? So how do we simplify that communication to the EV owner experience? Again, another big question.

Matt: And that’s really I think, at the core of what we decided to do is we ask ourselves, what’s a universal way to explain all of this complicated information and it really came back to well, colors and numbers. That’s pretty universal. Most people know what numbers are and colors you can either visually see the difference or you can translate it quite quickly. Whereas it’s extremely complicated to translate kilowatts and kilowatt hours and amps and volts and jigawatts or a J 1772. Or a CCS. Or, you know, so these are all things that the automakers they’re not steeped in the electrical engineering marketing, and the utilities that are producing the electricity. They aren’t necessarily going to market as retail marketing experts either. We all just kind of have to pay our electric bills. And so we looked at that landscape and said, Well, these two industries need to talk to each other. We need to translate the fuel on behalf of the industry that is making it the utilities, and then we need to make sure the auto sector can leverage that language in a way to make the car more attractive. And so really, it just came down to we just need to take all of this information and create a wayfinding system that was visual, but also an educational system that was simple that anybody from any dealership from any brand any state could just look at and say, well, that’s not complicated. I used to drive a car that ran on regular and now I drive a brand new EV that goes to green stations, higher numbers, faster charging, and I can see it on this map on this app. And it’s all based on the engineering like you said, we didn’t arbitrarily make this up. It’s based on the data, but we can present the data in a way that’s more approachable. Just like when we all went through math when we were in school. We didn’t start with trigonometry or calculus. So if you start simple and then lead people into more information if they do want it but to your point, drivers are going to say, look, how long is it going to take me to do I just need to know how it fits into my life. And through charge ways visualization of colors and numbers, you can understand how those parallels fit into your life.

Elena: And one more point that I want to hit on that we did chat about yesterday that I want the listeners to really understand because this is a big hurdle for adoption, which is this charging station doesn’t work. I drove I have 10% battery left. I’m skirting on like electric fumes, so to speak, and this charging station doesn’t work. So how on your app, am I able to make sure that does not happen to me and I don’t need to get my car towed away.

Matt: It is a huge conversation right now. And there’s a few companies that are also even tackling that. So we’re part of what’s called the Los Angeles clean tech incubator in California and one of the other companies that’s an incubator is a company called Charger Help and they’re addressing the maintenance of chargers because of this issue is just simply because when the chargers down obviously the driver that doesn’t meet your needs. And so one of things we do surcharge way is we have information from most of the major networks on if a station is online or offline. So if the full station is offline, and all the charges are down and there’s maintenance being performed or anything along those lines, we represent that inside of our our mobile app, so the pin is no longer coded and it’ll be gray. And if you tap on it, it’ll tell you the stations offline. If you’re planning a road trip, we will not route you through offline stations. And we’ve already seen this even through some OEM routing systems where it’s routing drivers just simply to station but they don’t know it’s offline. So the other thing is real time feedback from drivers. We actually have a rating system inside of charge weights so you can leave a rating on the station. And it’s a simple system or it’s five, five stars, very akin to what we know from shopping online that allows people to give general feedback on their experience. But also there’s a report, you can send a report to the network as well if there’s a problem that goes right to the network’s customer service team and to our team. So we will know from a driver immediately if there’s an issue at a station if they say hey, this whole station is offline. And for some reason we didn’t have that information from the network, we can immediately update that in our systems to reflect that from a driver in real time. And so that’s very important to get that feedback to so we’re at the beginning of this conversation related to you know uptime and maintenance. There’s a lot of charging being deployed right now. But how effectively it’s maintained and monitored is gonna be a big part of that conversation. And through our platform drivers can have visibility into that and also engage with that.

Elena: I love it. So the last thing I want to ask you because Matt, I can talk to you for a really long time about this is it’s just such a it’s such a needed piece of the puzzle. Right you know, JD Power, they have the OEMs up there talking about we’re all in for electrification, but then it’s like okay, how? What I like about Chargeway is that it really does give the tools for the how and for the execution to make electrification net zero targets an actual reality. With that said, I’m gonna give you a shameless plug and where everybody can go and find Chargeway. If you are a dealer. What do I do if I’m a regular consumer? What do I do?

Matt: So it’s easy chargeway.net is our website. We have dot com as well, you’ll still find us. For drivers, go to the App Store on iOS or go to the Google Play Store and download the Chargeway my mobile app, if you have or even if you’re just shopping for an EV or you want to compare EVs, you can add as many EVs to your account as you want. You can road trip plan with multiple EVs to see which one might be better for you. So it’s really meant to, again allow for people to just educate themselves but in a way that’s approachable. But then once they have the view they want they have a really good resource at their disposal for dealers and also for electric utility companies. They can go to charge late at night, and we have sections for each of them, where they can read about how we can work with them and provide them resources and they can contact us directly about our options that we offer to them. So dealers have a web platform, they can get our mini beacon which is a tablet form of Chargeway or our full size beacon which is a kiosk about six feet tall that you can’t miss it the showroom and it has all the features we’ve been discussing built in including incentive data for EVs when you’re buying them.

Elena: So that’s gonna be our second episode. Okay, because that opens up a whole other can of worms, but thank you, Matt, I know you’re super busy during the show. You’re speaking later on at NADA so congratulations on that. And I just wish you a huge amount of success. I’m so excited to share this episode with everyone because it’s it’s so so needed. So thank you, Matt.

Matt: Thank you very much.