“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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Installation of the Month (June 2021): Hyatt Place Riverside/Downtown

The ability to travel is something many of us take for granted. Our Interstate Highway System allows us to freely traverse state boundaries – to go wherever we choose whenever we choose – from the snow-capped Colorado Rockies to the soupy Everglade swamplands to the historic lighthouses of coastal New England. However, EV drivers are more acutely aware of their travel limitations because many areas of the country have yet to adopt pro-electric infrastructure policies, often leaving them with few ground-travel options other than ICE vehicles. We knew getting more Americans to embrace the electric revolution would require buy-in from the hospitality industry. As such, much of our focus has gone toward hotels that, by serving as site hosts for charging stations, can help kickstart that ubiquitous access required to convert many EV holdouts.

Wall Street Journal Piece Brings Up Questions… And We Answer

Stephen Wilmot’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “Investors Look for an EV Charge,” debates the merits of investing in EV infrastructure, admitting that while chargers likely make for better investments than cars, the sector still holds many potential pitfalls that should be considered before jumping in. While that may be true, many of the examples backing up this assertion cite the business models of the largest EV installers in the country while failing to consider what less visible but faster-growing companies like EVCS are doing to mitigate such risks. Below are a few quotes from the article and our thoughts on them, including how we’re different.

Commentary on EV Industry Profitability Claims

In a recent Driving.ca article titled “EV-Charging Industry is Doing Everything Except Making Money,” author David R. Baker makes a compelling argument that the EV infrastructure sector is a revenue desert, essentially incapable of generating enough cash flow to sustain profitability due to a lack of interest from motorists. “The dilemma boils down to demand,” he states, before adding that “lots of people still driving gasoline-powered cars won’t consider going electric until they see charging stations widely deployed.”

Installation of the Month (May 2021): LADOT Lot 656

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) notes on its website that ICE vehicles are one of the city’s top contributors to air pollution, accounting for 19% of all greenhouse gas emissions, before proclaiming, “We can do better… We’re investing in public transit, testing new technology, and adopting mobility innovations for a cleaner environment and brighter future.” At first, it might just sound like flowery rhetoric, but we can personally attest to that commitment. Starting in 2019, LADOT partnered with us to install DCFCs at 57 city-owned lots, with almost 30% of those installations now completed. This alliance has been integral in promoting our goal of zero-emission mobility in the City of Angels by facilitating greater access to infrastructure.

Addressing Pain Points in Creating EV Infrastructure

A recent GovTech.com article titled “How Biden Plans to Build 500 EV Charging Stations” discusses the President’s goals for creating a nationwide network of 500,000 such installations by 2030. While it does a smart job laying out many of the pain points we face in facilitating EV adoption, the mention of solutions was far less prevalent, and ones that were mentioned seemed speculative or tenuous. However, over the last three years, EVCS has already taken the lead in addressing many of these challenge areas, allowing us to dominate the installation market across the West Coast.