WEBVTT - ChargePoint CEO Rick Wilmer Talks EVs

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Finally, charge Point is announcing the EV industry's first cut

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<v Speaker 2>resistant charging cable, as well as an alarm system that's

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<v Speaker 2>as it attempts to deter theft and vandalism. It expects

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<v Speaker 2>the cables to be available for licensed by the middle

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<v Speaker 2>of this year and joining us now to talk more

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<v Speaker 2>about that as charge Points CEO Rick Wilmer. Rick, great

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<v Speaker 2>to get you on the program. I want to ask

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<v Speaker 2>how big of a problem this was in the first place.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, I know a lot of people are disappointing

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<v Speaker 2>when they pull up to an EV charger and it

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't work. Is that happening a lot more often? And

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<v Speaker 2>is it due to vandalism?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it definitely has been a problem that has been

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<v Speaker 3>pervasive and getting worse. I think the rumor out there

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<v Speaker 3>is that as copper prices go up, thieves believe they

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<v Speaker 3>can make money stealing charging cables and taking them into

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<v Speaker 3>recycling centers. And seen hundreds and hundreds of chargers get vandalized,

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<v Speaker 3>and I bet industry wide it's in the thousands. Seems

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<v Speaker 3>to be concentrated in different areas. It surges in certain

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<v Speaker 3>parts of the country and then builds up again in

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<v Speaker 3>another part of the country. We've also seen it with

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<v Speaker 3>some of our customers in Europe where they've got charging

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<v Speaker 3>cables of chests to chargers. So it's been a real problem.

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<v Speaker 3>It's been very frustrating.

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<v Speaker 4>You know.

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<v Speaker 1>One reason the vandalism exists also is to get access

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<v Speaker 1>to that copper that's underneath the surface there. And I

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<v Speaker 1>want to pull it back to the price of copper

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<v Speaker 1>because interestingly enough, it has been back on the rise

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<v Speaker 1>after a fairly steep decline at the end of last year.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm wondering what this means for you in terms of pricing,

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<v Speaker 1>in terms of what your inputs are costing right now.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, good question.

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<v Speaker 3>But quite frankly, the cost of copper as part of

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<v Speaker 3>the overall cost of a charging station is not all

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<v Speaker 3>that significant. And I think a lot of the thieves

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<v Speaker 3>aren't that intelligent, and you know, here a rumor or

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<v Speaker 3>see something that makes them think they can make money,

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<v Speaker 3>and it turns out there's just not that much value there.

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<v Speaker 5>I want to talk a little bit more about reliability.

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<v Speaker 5>Of course, if your chargers are being vandalized, that would

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<v Speaker 5>be a point of reliability becoming an issue. But let's

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<v Speaker 5>also talk about software, like Matt mentioned, making sure that

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<v Speaker 5>these chargers work every single time for all types of evs.

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<v Speaker 5>How much time do you spend on the software making

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<v Speaker 5>sure that that actually is the case.

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<v Speaker 3>That is our single biggest area of investment in innovation.

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<v Speaker 3>Like many other industries, software is going to eat the

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<v Speaker 3>world at EV charging, So we spend a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>time not only making charging reliable through software making it

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<v Speaker 3>easy to find, use and pay for charging, but also

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<v Speaker 3>to develop all kinds of interesting new features that our

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<v Speaker 3>customers can take advantage of to not only drive utilization

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<v Speaker 3>of charging at their institutions, but also to drive their

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<v Speaker 3>poor business.

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<v Speaker 4>Rick, I wonder about EV growth.

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<v Speaker 2>There had been clearly a big backlash, and with Donald

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<v Speaker 2>Trump coming into office, you may think, well, he's going to,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, remove the credit and slow EV sales even further.

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<v Speaker 2>On the other hand, Elon Musk has purchased himself a

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<v Speaker 2>place at the table here.

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<v Speaker 4>Do you expect EV growth to pick up.

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<v Speaker 2>Again or is it going to continue to slow in

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<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty five.

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<v Speaker 3>No, I don't think it's going to slow at all.

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<v Speaker 3>In fact, Bloomberg New Energy just forecasted earlier this week

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<v Speaker 3>twenty eight percent growth for EV's in North America this

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<v Speaker 3>year and thirty three percent in Europe. And I think

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<v Speaker 3>what's really driving that and it overcomes you know, government

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<v Speaker 3>incentives or lack of is really market forces. And I

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<v Speaker 3>think what's held EV's back in the past on one

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<v Speaker 3>side of the equations just the lack of selection of vehicles.

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<v Speaker 3>So we're going to see dozens of new EV models

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<v Speaker 3>introduced this year, you know, different types of vehicles, lower

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<v Speaker 3>price points, and I think that's really going to help adoption.

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<v Speaker 3>And then on the charging side, you know, we continue

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<v Speaker 3>to grow our networks, we continue to deploy more chargers

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<v Speaker 3>and innovations like we announced today around making chargers more reliable,

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<v Speaker 3>but preventing vandalism is going to help the other side

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<v Speaker 3>of the equation, you know, where drivers are concerned about

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<v Speaker 3>finding a charger and when they do find one, making

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<v Speaker 3>sure that it works.

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<v Speaker 2>Is it possible, Well, I mean it's possible to charge

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<v Speaker 2>Tesla at charge point station, But do you have a

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<v Speaker 2>significant number of Tesla owners charging at your stations?

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<v Speaker 4>Yes, a lot.

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<v Speaker 3>If you walk into our parking lot, there's probably more

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<v Speaker 3>Tesla's out here charging than there are any other makeup vehicle,

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<v Speaker 3>just because they're so prevalent on the road.

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<v Speaker 1>What do you think this means for Tesla? You know

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people are talking about Elon Musk's closeness

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<v Speaker 1>to the President elect at the moment. Do you think

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<v Speaker 1>that that's going to give him an advantage relative to

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<v Speaker 1>other ED companies out there, especially because they're already very

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<v Speaker 1>much in the lead when you think about the standalone

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<v Speaker 1>D companies.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's so.

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<v Speaker 4>Hard to know.

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<v Speaker 3>I really believe that what drives EV sales is the

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<v Speaker 3>superiority of an electric vehicle versus an internal combustion vehicle.

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<v Speaker 3>And again, like you mentioned earlier, as more models become

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<v Speaker 3>available that meet the needs of different types of drivers,

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<v Speaker 3>that require different kinds of vehicles, and at a variety

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<v Speaker 3>of price points, the market's going to grow. I think

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<v Speaker 3>they're just a superior product to the internal combustion vehicle.

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<v Speaker 4>Rick.

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<v Speaker 2>As you know, I have a podcast called Hot Pursuit

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<v Speaker 2>with Hannah Elliott where we talk basically about our love

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<v Speaker 2>for cars, and there's some exciting evs coming out. I

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<v Speaker 2>think Hannah's going to drive a Porsche Macon EV next week.

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<v Speaker 4>What are you.

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<v Speaker 2>Most excited about in terms of product offering in twenty

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<v Speaker 2>twenty five.

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<v Speaker 3>Wow, there's so much coming. I think the Mcon is

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<v Speaker 3>an exciting vehicle. I'm excited to see some of the

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<v Speaker 3>Slantis vehicles come out. There's just a lot coming that

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<v Speaker 3>I'm excited about. By the way, Matt big fan of

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<v Speaker 3>the podcast. I listened to that pretty regularly.

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<v Speaker 4>Well, I really appreciate it.

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<v Speaker 2>Rick, thanks so much for joining us on Bloomberg Television

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<v Speaker 2>as well. Charge Points CEO Rick Wilmer. For more on

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<v Speaker 2>all things auto. Go ahead and check out my podcast

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<v Speaker 2>with Hannah Elliott. It is called Hot Pursuit and you

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<v Speaker 2>can get it on Bloomberg dot com or anywhere you

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<v Speaker 2>get your podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll be listening to the Maccon episode. Yeah, that's the

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<v Speaker 1>car I want.