00:00What metrics, I'm curious, do you watch most to get an idea of what it means for your business specifically
00:06when it comes to charging and the infrastructure build-out?
00:09Absolutely, and awesome to be back on Bloomberg. Thank you guys for having me.
00:13I'm super excited still about the electric vehicle industry.
00:16When I think about what metrics we watch, we want to see number of cars deployed on the road and
00:21the amount of energy that we're delivering to those fleets, right?
00:25We really believe that the future of electric vehicles here in the United States is going to be primarily driven
00:31by fleets that adopt electric vehicles.
00:34So we like to see how much energy those fleets are using, and then obviously how many cars deployed on
00:39the road are they deploying, and then how are they growing that fleet over time?
00:44Where would somebody see or what fleets would be charging in your network right now?
00:52We do have increasingly companies investing in this technology.
00:56Maybe it's hit a speed bump.
00:58Maybe it's slowed down in the past couple of years as a result of the change in administration.
01:02But what fleets are using your network?
01:05Absolutely.
01:06We are servicing everything from autonomous vehicle fleets.
01:09We are servicing rideshare fleets, package delivery fleets.
01:13You name it.
01:14We serve tons of fleets across the United States, especially with us being in every state here in the United
01:20States,
01:20plus our international expansion into Canada and Mexico.
01:24So what does it mean when you're serving these fleets?
01:26So when I go to your website and I see Hertz, I see Zipcar, I see AAA, I see Amazon,
01:30I see Uber, I see Kia, like I see all of this.
01:34Does that mean that you can serve them?
01:36You are serving them?
01:37You have deals with them?
01:39Help me understand exactly what that means.
01:42Absolutely.
01:42So when we say that we are servicing fleets at Spark Charge, we are delivering energy via our mobile power
01:48hubs with clean energy or mobile batteries with our battery technology,
01:52basically delivering energy to their sites, setting up mobile micro grids that allow them to charge off grid or in
01:59conjunction with the grid.
02:00When we think about the limiting factor for fleets that really get in the way of them being able to
02:05grow, it's really the infrastructure, right?
02:08It's the grid.
02:08How much power do I have at my site?
02:10How much power do I have at my building?
02:12With an array of tools, all the way from software down to our batteries, down to our power hubs,
02:16we can increase that capacity, allowing them to charge cars quicker and get more vehicles on the road
02:21without having to wait two, three, five years for infrastructure to catch up.
02:25What about waiting for politics to catch up?
02:28Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, earlier today speaking at the White House,
02:32said that the EPA action eliminates a forced transition to EVs.
02:35We know this administration doesn't feel the same way that the previous administration, for example,
02:42felt about a transition to electric vehicles, the sort of Tesla thing that happened last year, kind of notwithstanding.
02:48But what does that mean for you?
02:50Absolutely.
02:51Well, what it means is that really fleets are going to have to make a decision around,
02:55do I want to go for gasoline vehicle or do I want to go for an electric vehicle?
03:00I think right now what we're seeing is fleets are adopting more electric vehicles
03:04because the cost in the ROI is far lower, right?
03:07If you think about it, the cost to drive, maintain, and own an electric vehicle
03:11is far lower than the cost to maintain a combustion engine vehicle.
03:15So if you're a fleet, you're really looking at it and you're saying,
03:17hey, what is the best option for my business?
03:19And what we're seeing is more fleets are choosing electric vehicles
03:23over combustion vehicles due to the money, right?
03:26Due to the fact that, hey, the math works out that this vehicle has a lower cost of ownership.
03:30Therefore, I can deploy it, I can make more money on it, and I can grow it and scale it.
03:34You know, your CFO on your website had put out a story, or at least written up just a reminder
03:40about the U.S. government's commercial clean vehicle credit, which section 45W,
03:47a game changer for fleet electrification, offering up to $40,000 per vehicle
03:51for qualifying clean commercial vehicles over 14,000 pounds.
03:56So I'm just curious, but this went away with the big, beautiful bill,
04:01the president's, as of September 30th, 2025, for any purchases after that date.
04:07Have you seen any pullback as a result of that?
04:11I don't think we've seen too much of a pullback from our perspective, right?
04:16I think the fleets that we're servicing, they are committed to EVs.
04:19They are committed to growing and scaling with EV.
04:22So we really didn't see too much of a pullback from that, at least not from our perspective.
04:28So can I just follow up?
04:30Because you mentioned that the ROI makes sense for EVs.
04:33What is that?
04:34What is the math on that that you're hearing from your customers, why they continue to spend on EVs?
04:41Absolutely.
04:42So when you think about an electric vehicle, right,
04:44the maintenance on an electric vehicle is far lower than that of a combustion vehicle, right?
04:48So there's not as many moving parts.
04:50Really, the thing that you're changing on an electric vehicle, the thing most often is maybe the tires.
04:55Whereas with a combustion engine vehicle, there's a host of things that can go wrong.
04:58There's a ton of maintenance that goes into keeping that vehicle up and running.
05:02When you have an electric vehicle, that maintenance cost goes down.
05:05Therefore, the ROI and basically the payback on that vehicle can go way up.
05:10And that's really what you've seen not only with fleets, but also with consumers as well.
05:14They'll tell you, hey, I didn't have to take this car to the shop every three months, right?
05:18I didn't have to worry about going in when the engine light came on or getting the oil changed and
05:23things like that.
05:23With an EV, that total maintenance cost is far lower.
05:26And for fleets, that's a big decision maker as it comes to putting a car out on the road.
05:31If I don't have to spend a lot of money on maintenance, I can keep my total cost down.
05:35I can grow my fleet and I can have a higher ROI for my business.
05:38Josh, if we were speaking four years ago, maybe the conversation would have, or this question would have been different.
05:44But because back then, GM, Ford, companies in Asia were spending big and making big investments in EVs.
05:53In the last few months, those investments have been pulled back.
05:57Ford and GM have taken billions and billions of dollars in charges on EVs.
06:01To you, is this just a hiccup in an ultimate future where, within our lifetimes, all new cars sold will
06:09be EVs?
06:10Or are you rethinking that?
06:12No.
06:13I think we've kind of jumped the chasm as it relates to electric vehicles here in the United States and
06:18around the world, right?
06:19When we think about EV adoption, I think these OEMs are looking at it and they're saying,
06:23OK, we launched these vehicles.
06:25Consumers like these vehicles.
06:27But it's going to take time to grow into those vehicles.
06:31So I don't think it's, you know, the end-all, be-all.
06:34I think it's them just re-strategizing and refocusing and laying out a new timeline as they think Americans will
06:40catch up, right?
06:41But if we also look at the rest of the world, they're adopting electric vehicles at a very fast pace.
06:45And I think that's a good key indicator for what will happen here in America.
06:50So I think the OEMs are smart.
06:52I think they're doing the right thing.
06:53But I think they're now looking at it and saying, OK, maybe it's not next year.
06:58Maybe it's a couple years.
06:58And we're going to roll this out the right way.
07:01You know, it's interesting.
07:02And hopefully change the messaging behind it, too, which is this car saves you money, right?
07:06I think that's the messaging that should happen.
07:08And it probably shouldn't be more of a political message either.
07:11Money often speaks.
07:12Well, speaking of politics, I think about we think about a lot.
07:15And we ask Tim and I do leaders about leading in this kind of environment.
07:20One with an administration that pushes back on initiatives like DEI and equality that have become mainstays across corporate cultures.
07:28Just got about 35 seconds.
07:30What say you about leading in this kind of environment?
07:34Yeah, I think leadership in this environment is still focused on culture, right?
07:39I think the businesses that will win will build an amazing culture.
07:42They'll have amazing teams to buy into that culture.
07:44And they'll lead from the front, right?
07:46I think diversity and inclusion is big and what should be part of every organization.
07:50And I think that at Spark Charge, we stand by that, right?
07:54I think we stand by our culture.
07:55We stand by our team members.
07:56And we've seen amazing benefits out of that.
07:59We continue to lead.
08:00We continue to grow.
08:01We continue to be North America's largest mobile off-grid energy and EV company.
08:05So we stand by diversity.
08:07We continue to be North America's largest global off-grid energy and EV
08:08and EV community.
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