PUTTING A CHARGE INTO THE ELECTRIC CAR INDUSTRY
Volta CEO is building a network to grow with people’s evolving fuel needs
Scott Mercer says that even at a time when the automotive industry is undergoing its biggest technological changes in more than a century, he remains a car guy at heart. And it’s that love of cars that drives his mission, and that of his company, San Francisco-based Volta Charging.
“I had a classic car restoration business that started really when I was 16, buying cheap cars on ebay and Craigslist,” Mercer said. “Then, I wanted to do something that was automotive focus, but was much more me. So, for me, that was, look at the future of transportation. And what you immediately find is electrification is the direction things ought to head.”
That epiphany led Mercer to start Volta in 2010. The company operates a network of electric
car charging stations with approximately 900 car chargers around the United States. Volta focuses on placing its charging units at shopping centers, offices and other locations where video advertisements that run on the charging units provide a source of revenue. In October, Volta added to its car-charging options, announcing it will in-tall a new network of 150 DC fast charging stations around the country. As part of the network’s launch, Volta will give customers 30 minutes of free fast charging, or the equivalent of about 175 miles of fuel, when they charge their cars’ batteries.
Mercer recently spoke at Volta’s San Francisco office on topics such as the nature of the electric car-charging industry, competition in the market, and how the technology has changed in recent years. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.
Q How would you describe what Volta is?
A Volta builds public-owned and -operated EV (electric vehicle) charging networks. We are
really charting EV charging against the growth curve of the cars in a demanddriven way and try to put chargers where people will actually use them. And we provide charging in novel ways, and one of those is giving free charging at public locations where we can excite people about going to shop or have dinner, etc.
Q You said public-owned networks. What does that mean?
A We take a city and map it for the highest-value locations, which to our view is a combination of visibility and traffic. We go out and partner with properties that meet those criteria. And we offer them charging as sort of an amenity that will drive visits and people to go to those properties.
Q Volta just launched its new DC fast charging network. How is that different from other car charging systems?
A Right now, there are three basic charging levels. Level 1 is you plug your car into a wall outlet and it takes a day and a half to charge up. There’s Level 2 charging, which gives you anywhere between 30 and 75 miles of range for every hour you’re plugged in. And then you have Level 3, which starts from 85-90 miles of range for every hour you’re plugged in and goes up to 700 to 800 miles of range.
We’re doing 150 chargers in this first phase of the DC fast chargers. DC fast charging is maybe 15 times faster than the chargers at the original charging stations. All the hardware is getting a little bit faster because car batteries are getting to the range that matches what a gas car range is. We try to match the speed of charging to the time that people you’re will going be in to a given get groceries, location. and So, you’re if going to be at the store for half an hour, you can plug in and go from 20 or 30% full to 70 or 80% full in half a hour. If you’re in a movie theater, they’re slower. It might take two or three hours.
Q Are the stations under the Volta name, or do you license the charging equipment to others?
A We own the whole thing. The way the business works is early on, we go out to properties and we give them some infrastructure for free. And we use sponsorships to offset the cost of electricity. The stations have digital screens with video content. Some of that content is from the stores and some of it is sponsored content. Sponsored content actually pays for the electricity that drivers use.
Q How do you go about finding the content to put on these big displays?
A The content mostly surrounds the different audiences we attract. We have really strong relationships with carmakers. We have a lot of in-store brands, too, and it works well to have an ad campaign on the screen for something sold in the store where our charging stations are.
Q How do you make this business viable?
A For us, there are a couple of pieces to the business. It’s really about how you chart the course of electrification against a city, or a community, over a matter of decades. Say you have a shopping mall like Eastridge in San Jose. In the earliest days, a couple of charging stations sufficed. As you get more and more (electric) cars, the needs change.
Q Are you making more of your revenue off the electric charging or from advertising?
A We make no money off of the electric charging. But, that’s really the design (of the business). For us, the design is to make money off of the businesses that profit in the space. Our opportunities are all in being able to say, “Hey, we are able to drive people to your store, or to your shopping mall. If you give someone a free charging session, they are a little more likely to spend time in the grocery store and they might spend a little more money because they are killing time and waiting for their car to charge.”
Q What is it like on the competitive landscape? For example, Tesla is always promoting their Supercharger network.
A All the infrastructure is already here, but the business models around charging fracture quite a bit. That means you have companies like Tesla that are building closed networks for their drivers where their Superchargers will only work with Tesla cars. All Teslas can use our Level 2 stations, but I can’t plug my Fiat 500 into a Tesla’s Supercharger station.
There are other companies in the space. There’s Evgo. There’s Electrify America. And there are a lot manufacturers and service providers who build the hardware, sell it to partners and offer service and support. But, we’re right now at a point where interest from the large players, meaning utilities, the traditional oil and gas companies, etc., is starting to cement because electrification of the auto industry has become very much a predestined thing.
Q Being a “car guy,” do you get to do any car restoration in your spare time?
A Now, I’m working on an electric Jaguar E-type conversion. It was originally a gas car. The one I’m working on now had the motor removed and a Chevy motor put in. For me, the problem is I have too much mechanical sympathy for the old sports cars, so I kind of need to find something that’s been damaged to convert.