“Who’s Saving the Planet?” Podcast Interviews Gustavo Occhiuzzo

EVCS co-founder and CEO Gustavo Occhiuzzo recently spoke on the “Who’s Saving the Planet?” podcast about the electric mobility revolution and what we as a company are doing to help realize a truly carbon-neutral future. During the conversation with hosts Anthony Noto and Jessica Miles, Occhiuzzo made several critical points that help listeners understand where we are now in that mission, the obstacles we face, what EVCS has done to overcome those obstacles, and what we can do better as a global community. Here are some of the most prescient points:

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Committing to Electric

Occhiuzzo points out that approximately 20% of drivers who have owned hybrid electric or full electric vehicles in the past subsequently reverted back to gasoline-powered vehicles. That signals a failure by the EV industry to retain its customers – to generate “EV loyalty,” so to speak. According to a recent Enel X article (https://evcharging.enelx.com/resources/blog/638-breaking-the-barriers-to-ev-adoption-what-your-business-can-do-to-help), the two largest barriers to creating this loyalty are limited EV charging access at MUDs and range anxiety. EVCS aims to address this conundrum by making charging stations much more ubiquitous at MUDs, businesses and public spaces.

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Funding Drives Expansion

The expansion of new technologies in the marketplace is often hampered by a lack of available funds, and electrified transportation is no different. Occhiuzzo notes that EVCS’s ability to expand has been fueled by government subsidization, and where our presence is most prolific is in places where subsidies are most abundant. Therefore, one of the key ways EV drivers can help us expand infrastructure is by supporting government subsidization measures like cap-and-trade or renewable energy grants across more areas of the country.

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Addressing the Lag

Currently, the installation of EV charging stations significantly lags EV auto manufacturing. Occhiuzzo notes that while we’re on track to see 1.5 million EVs on the road by 2030, we’re not yet on pace to see a requisite number of chargers to service such vehicles. Even in LA, there are about 100 EVs for every one public charging station. The impending bottleneck caused by this gap will continue to stifle more robust EV adoption. He admits that we can’t do it alone and that more installers will be necessary to address the type of goals vocalized by California governor Gavin Newsom and the Biden administration.

Occhiuzzo founded ridesharing company Green Commuter

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Partnering with Utilities

We are witnessing an increase in energy efficiency across multiple sectors, from retail products to smart homes, while the transportation industry struggles to keep up. But once it does, says Occhiuzzo, we will need buy-in from utility companies that must shore up their grids to handle the additional load and ultimately find ways to generate power from renewable resources. He acknowledges that this process will likely take 10 to 20 years, but that, in the meantime, EVCS has been buying its electricity from renewable energy producers (even ones that are hundreds of miles away) through certificates that offset electricity generated locally by fossil fuels.

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Carbon Neutral vs Carbon Negative

Occhiuzzo declared our goal to be more than just reaching carbon neutrality; it’s actually reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by replacing current infrastructure with clean energy technologies that amount to becoming “carbon negative.” In addition to our essential mission of installing more chargers, we have engaged in efforts to reach this goal by working with utilities on issues like demand response, battery storage and V2G technology that mark the future of the EV revolution.

You can listen to the podcast episode in its entirety here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0NEFTuZ6M78Ics5RPsuFqj?si=T27kkqnlR2ON0lKaZCu4yw&dl_branch=1&nd=1

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Back

Navigating California’s New EV Mandate

California’s going all in on electric. On August 25th, Governor Gavin Newsom made a very important announcement concerning the future of transportation in the Golden State: “We can solve this climate crisis if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to cut pollution. California now has a groundbreaking, world-leading plan to achieve 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035.” Big and bold, indeed. And while highly encouraging, it brings up a number of questions moving forward.

How EVCS is Repairing Reliability Concerns

One of the biggest concerns among EV drivers today is the reliability of public chargers. One recent survey from the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley claims as many as 23% of public chargers in the Bay Area alone are, as Wired sums up, “nonfunctioning at any given time, stymied by broken screens, shoddy credit card or payment systems, network connection failures, or damaged plugs.” And that’s in a locale prioritizing the conversion to electric. Testimony from motorists seems to corroborate these findings. A CEC survey of 1,290 EV drivers found that fully 60% had experienced damaged or inoperable chargers, while almost half needed assistance from customer service. We find this wholly unacceptable and have taken measures to ensure that chargers in the EVCS network rise to the standard of operability our customers expect. Here are a few ways we’re doing that:

Installation of the Month (July 2022): Kenwood Inn & Spa

A key focus for us over the last several years has been the installation of additional chargers at holiday hot spots, tourist destinations, and other key points of interest. Not only will it help dispel long-range travel anxiety among many new EV drivers, but it will also lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions otherwise generated by gas-guzzlers during peak vacation seasons. Moreover, our egalitarian approach to site selection means we’re just as likely to install a charger at a McDonald’s as we are at a Morton’s since we understand the value in catering to a broad clientele. However, higher net worth individuals continue to drive EV sales in the US (a June 2021 Fuels Institute study specifies middle-aged males with household incomes over $100,000), so catering to venues that offer a luxury experience will encourage even greater participation by this group while serving as a bellwether for lower-income drivers who are attracted to the idea of electric mobility as a symbol of status.

Mexico to Canada EV Road Trip: EVCS Interview

We sat down with EV owner and enthusiast Anthony Williams, a 60-year-old business owner from San Diego, who recently commemorated the 10-year anniversary of his first trans-American road trip in an EV by retracing the same route to see what had changed in the world of EV fast charging, for better or for worse. Below are some of his insights and feedback.

Installation of the Month (June 2022): KPC Anaheim Global Medical Center

“For us, healthcare is not only about caring for our patients, but also about investing in the people who live in our communities.” These are the words emblazoned across the home page of the KPC Anaheim Global Medical Center’s website. Facilities like these are attractive partners for us because, like us, their goal is the betterment of humanity. In fact, just replace “healthcare” with “electric mobility” and “patients” with “planet,” and you have the EVCS mission statement in a nutshell. Allying with kindred spirits creates a natural synergy for us through the sharing of core values like customer service and an improved quality of life. Imagine then our excitement when KPC decided to install four of our newest DC fast chargers on their Anaheim property, giving us the opportunity to continue expanding our network southward.