Podcast’s Essential Bites:
[6:16] CZ: "Right now, we're in single digit in terms of penetration of EVs on American roads, but that's going to accelerate. What we do with EVgo is we like to build just ahead of demand. We actually get a return on our investment because EV drivers are using our infrastructure, so if we build too early, then we have idle infrastructure. If we don't build soon enough, then we have frustrated drivers. What we're doing is we're matching that. What the new pieces of legislation do is they bring all of that forward. They accelerate the pace at which companies like EVgo can deploy our infrastructure and actually get a return on our investment to cover our costs so that we can actually build more."
[8:58] CZ: "EVgo doesn't believe that charging needs to be a separate destination. If you're in a metropolitan area, you should be able to plug in and charge and go do something else that you want to do. This is why we love building our stations in grocery store parking lots, at shopping centers, [...] next to a park. What we do is we match the power to the typical dwell time. You're going to go in and shop at a grocery store for 20 or 30 minutes."
[9:36] CZ: "You can make a reservation when you go to an EVgo charging station. [...] At some locations, you can plug in, and you're going to get a really nifty coupon from the store where that charging station is located. [...] People love that. We get 40% click-through rates with offers like that. For us, that's how we like to differentiate what we're doing."
[11:35] CZ: "We do have a pay-as-you-go program. You don't need to be a member. [...] If you are a more frequent user and you want to be a subscriber, you can get a better price if you become a member, and we have various different membership levels. [With] the highest membership levels, you get free reservations on our network. [...] If you're a member, every time you charge at EVgo, you get reward points, and then you get to redeem those reward points for extra charging sessions. You get reward points on your birthday, things like that."
[14:34] CZ: "If you plug in at home into a wall [...] with just a regular power point, it'll take you 36 hours to charge your car from zero up to the full battery maybe. [...] If you install a higher powered charger at home, [...] that'll cost you somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000. And you'll be able to charge overnight. [...] One of EVgo's charging stalls that's very ultra high power where you'll get a charge in 15 to 20 minutes, that costs about $130,000. [...] We do need to charge you the driver more to be able to get our money back that we've invested in providing that convenient reliable service."
[32:44] CZ: "I just think that the impacts of climate change are being so palpably felt, it behooves all of us to figure out how we can do clean energy and do it economically. When I was at the Department of Energy, [...] batteries were 10X what they cost today, solar was 10X what it cost today. With more use, more learning, all of those costs come down. So I think that we have to take it as a given, we must accelerate our use of non-carbon emitting sources as soon as possible."
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