Electric vehicles are taking market share away from internal combustion competitors, with new plugin vehicle registrations in 2023 growing 45% yearly and accounting for 18% of all vehicle sales worldwide this year. U.S. EV sales hit 7.9% of all new car sales over the past three months. In Silicon Valley-speak, EVs are nearly across the chasm, the point at which a new product category is poised to displace older products rapidly. You’re probably asking, “Can I afford one?” Our guest, Peter Glenn, CEO of EV Life, is working to make the answer to your question an affordable “Yes.” EV Life pre-qualifies EV shoppers for a loan, applying available rebates and the federal tax credit that buyers typically have to wait to claim on their federal or state taxes to lower their monthly EV payments.
The financialization of life over the past 50 years has delivered mixed results for consumers. As Peter explains, those tools could be turned to positive use by connecting car owners to savings, reduced charging costs, and other benefits based on the ability to track vehicle use, the EV’s ability to send power to the grid when parked, or potentially by passing the value of carbon emissions avoided to the vehicle owner. That requires a more connected lifestyle, which represents a new co-ownership scenario — we may own the car but have committed to sending the used battery to a processor who will pay us today or over time for the lithium they will recover when the vehicle reaches the end of its useful life. You can learn more at https://EVLife.co
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Editor’s Note: This episode originally aired on December 1, 2023.