Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. It's guest time on the show, and our topic is Electric Vehicles. I'm at the US headquarters of NRG Energy and their Electric Vehicle Services with their president, Arun Banskota. Arun, welcome to the BusinessMakers Show.

Arun: It's great to be here, Russ. Thank you.

Russ: Tell us about NRGs commitment to electric vehicles. What's going on here?

Arun: Sure. As you know, Russ, this is a former Hummer building.

Russ: That's right. The Hummer dealership. [Laughing] That's amazing.

Arun: [Laughing]

Russ: So there might be a lot of opportunity in commercial real estate around the country in Hummer dealerships. Yeah.

Arun: Exactly. As you know, NRG is a power generation company. We have around 25,000 megawatts and a retail company. We own Reliant Energy -

Russ: Right.

Arun: And Green Mountain Energy.

Russ: Okay.

Arun: For the last couple of years, we have been moving very strongly into clean energy areas. We have a lot of investment in onshore wind and solar, as well. Of course we’re trying to develop two more units at our South Texas Power Project.

Russ: Okay.

Arun: Electric vehicles is one of our newest ventures. As we were thinking about this business piece around a year ago, there was a lot of talk about it. It really covered three primary issues, right? The first one was "range anxiety."

Russ: Range anxiety. You hear it all the time about electric vehicles. I'm going to run out of battery.

Arun: Exactly. The second was the very high cost of installing your home charger.

Russ: Sure.

Arun: The third was uncertainty over "How much is it really going to cost me in terms of electricity use?"

Russ: Right.

Arun: So we came with a subscription model, very similar to your cell phone model. Right?

Russ: A subscription model.

Arun: Exactly. So for $89 a month, we come in and install your home charger. It's a 240 volt home charger.

Russ: All right.

Arun: That gives you a full charge in around four to six hours.

Russ: Okay. Four to six hours, so overnight I've got a full charge.

Arun: Exactly. And, we give you a key fob that give you access to all of the public charging installations around Metropolitan Houston. What we announced in Houston is 50 Freedom Stations, and each Freedom Station has one level 3 DC charger, which is a very rapid charge.

Russ: Okay.

Arun: And one level 2 commercial charger. Something like this.

Russ: Okay.

Arun: And, on top of that, we also give you all the kilo hours that you consume at the public installations and that your EV consumes at your home, as well.

Russ: Oh.

Arun: For one simple-to-understand price of $89 a month.

Russ: Man, it sounds like you solved the three problems right up front. I mean range anxiety goes away because I can go, if I see a station, and get some more battery power. And you know how much it costs in this subscription thing. And it's easy to do at home.

Arun: Right.

Russ: So for $89 a month, when I come home at night, you will have installed my own eVgo system - is that what you call it?

Arun: The eVgo network. Exactly.

Russ: And I can charge. And when I'm out, I have my little key fob. I plug it in here and - okay, that's really cool. So, when I'm out, like this station here you mentioned is not the top of the line, if I'm in a place where I find one and I just have time to plug it in for an hour, how much charge milage will that give me?

Arun: So, with a DC charger, that gives you approximately 160 miles per hour of charge.

Russ: Wow. Okay.

Arun: For a level 2 charger, that gives you approximately 15 miles per hour of charge.

Russ: Okay. But, you guys don't care which one I use, and I don't care either. I mean, here's how much I'm paying you on this subscription thing and no matter if I'm home or out in a Freedom Station - that is pretty cool. It sounds like you guys have really figured it out.

Arun: And we've already signed agreements for installing these chargers at Walgreens for example, at Best Buy, and HEB stores. So, starting in another couple of months, you're going to be seeing a lot of these charges around town.

Russ: So you're not actually even going to normal gasoline filling stations to install them.

Arun: Not at all. In fact, we're trying to stay as far away from gasoline as possible. [Laughing]

Russ: [Laughing] They might want you to stay away, too. Who knows. So I get it. I'm going out, I'm shopping, and I pull up to a Walgreens. I see one available, and I just go over there and plug in my -

Arun: Exactly. And, Russ, we've already started selling. We're in the market, and it's been very successful so far. So, we've been able to make our offers to a number of people, and our success rate is over 90 percent right now.

Russ: Oh my goodness. So you already have some of the Freedom Stations installed in Houston, Texas?

Arun: No. The eVgo subscription that we offer to potential consumers - those have already been signed by 90 percent of the consumers who we've presented these offers to.

Russ: Wow. So, does that mean we have consumers who already have the home charging station in their home?

Arun: Some of them, yes.

Russ: All right. Good. So when is the whole network scheduled to be completed to roll out, both to people and new subscribes at home, but more importantly the Freedom Stations around the community?

Arun: Sure. Our vendor is going to be supplying these chargers toward the middle of March. They're getting it UL certified.

Russ: Okay.

Arun: And starting the end of March, you're going to be seeing at least five or so Freedom Stations around town. By July 1, our target is to have at least 25 Freedom Stations all around town and ultimately 50 in the Houston Metropolitan area.

Russ: So you guys almost certainly have to be monitoring, too, the sales of electric vehicles and kind of have an understanding of how many of them are out there. Are there already very many of them in Houston, Texas?

Arun: The first Nissan Leaf was delivered in the state of Texas on January 25. For full disclosure, it was an NRG employee with an eVgo plan. [Laughing]

Russ: [Laughing] Well good, we believe in full disclosure.

Arun: But I have to quote Jimmy Sauers, who was the first recipient of the Leaf. When the media asked him, "Why did you choose the Leaf?" He said, "Look, I ran all kinds of numbers, and ultimately I'm doing it for financial reasons. It makes financial sense for me and my family."

Russ: Yeah.

Arun: And he goes on to say, "And on top of that, it makes me feel good that I'm doing something for better controlling emissions in the Houston area. And, for energy independence as a national security issue for the country."

Russ: There's lots of reasons. Arun, the financial thing seems to be so advantageous. I mean, I'm not one to watch my miles per gallon, but I do kind of look at the credit card and go, "Man, I'm really spending a lot - " I spend a lot more. I might spend $150 to $200 a month on gasoline.

Arun: Especially with what's happening in the Middle East today. You might be spending more.

Russ: Absolutely. I'm talking to Arun Banskota, the president of Electrical Vehicle Services with NRG Energy. We'll be back with more with Arun after this. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show, here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.

[Commercial]

Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. We are continuing on with Arun Banskota, the president of Electrical Vehicle Services with NRG Energy. Now, I keep saying "President of Electrical Vehicle Services," but you call the division eVgo. Right?

Arun: We decided to call it the eVgo Network.

Russ: The eVgo Network. I'm just fascinated. Now, we talked about Walgreens, Best Buy, and HGB. Now that really means I'm going out and I'm shopping. I pull up to a Best Buy and I might see a Freedom Station available. Sometimes there might be a car plugged into it, but if it's available, I just go out, plug my key in, and start charging.

Arun: Yep.

Russ: Now, I'm always aware that batteries seem to be, at least they used to be, very sensitive to not going through a full cycle. So, what if I go in and it happens real fast, and I'm back out in 10 minutes. Do I need to wait for a good 30 minutes or an hour to let it charge up? Can I just unplug it and go?

Arun: You can absolutely unplug it and go.

Russ: And the damage?

Arun: No damage at all. With 10 minutes, if it's on a DC charger, you probably already added 30 miles of charge.

Russ: Wow.

Arun: It's going to be, obviously, less with a level 2 commercial charger.

Russ: Right. Okay. Well, we keep using this term "range anxiety" as though our listeners all know, but that's the thing that's talked about a lot with electric vehicle owners. They keep thinking, "Wow, my battery is going to run out," as though the indicator of available battery power is not as reliable maybe as the indicator of gasoline in my truck. I don't know if that's true or not, but people probably would feel anxiety. But isn't it also true that the climate can maybe affect a battery a little bit?

Arun: Sure. In extreme climates, the batteries do less well. Absolutely.

Russ: But that whole range anxiety, that's been something to overcome. Correct?

Arun: Absolutely. And, Russ, that's exactly why I like to say, "We're in the business of providing range confidence."

Russ: Range confidence.

Arun: With all of these public charging stations in places like Best Buys, Walgreens, and HGB, normally people would top-off at home, overnight.

Russ: Right.

Arun: But when they're out and about, even if there's any danger of them running short on a charge, you have all these charging stations all around you.

Russ: Okay. Cool. Now, you mentioned Best Buy, Walgreens, and HGB. Will that be the kind of places I need to look for and the only places, or will we see them elsewhere?

Arun: We've also got places like Crescent, for example, which is a downtown property management location, the Houston shops. The Metro National place. Specs is another client, as well.

Russ: All right.

Arun: So we've got quite a number of potential locations for these Freedom Stations.

Russ: Well, this is a business show, and I'm interested in those sort of partnerships. I would assume that maybe Specs does it and thinks, "This is a cool thing, and it might even attract some customers and keep them in longer." Does money change hands, actually, in those agreements or are they kind of both sides mutually benefit?

Arun: I think both sides mutually benefit. With this business, what we are primarily looking for is the branding value as well as, over time, I'm sure as EVs become much more popular, to drive customers into their own stores.

Russ: Right. Absolutely. Really cool. Now, another interesting topic is all the press releases that I read about eVgo kept emphasizing the first private investment infrastructure. I was like, well, here on the BusinessMakers Show, everybody knows we like private business enterprises. Is that implying sort of that government funds are used sometimes to do this?

Arun: Of course. So the government got into this business maybe around almost two years ago. I'm sure they had every good intention. They wanted to disperse Dobson into the market.

Russ: Right.

Arun: So there was quite a bit of funds given for placing public charging and home charging systems in selected markets.

Russ: So we're talking about stimulus dollars here.

Arun: Stimulus dollars.

Russ: Our tax dollars.

Arun: Absolutely. We are doing it with completely private funds. We have not taken any government dollars for this particular initiative. Our message, frankly, is the private sector has already stepped into this space, and we don't think there's any reason for the government to continue investing in this area.

Russ: Our kind of man, here. [Laughing] We love it. Now, I think I understand, you're president for the organization nationwide. What over cities are implementing an infrastructure similar to what's being install here in Houston?

Arun: We've started selling already in Houston. To date, we've got over a 90 percent success rate among consumers for the fueling package. Just this month, in fact, we started selling in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Russ: Okay.

Arun: We've announced the installation of 70 Freedom Stations in Dallas-Fort Worth, so that's a total of 140 public charging locations.

Russ: Wow. Okay.

Arun: Right now, we're evaluating, "Where do you go beyond Texas?"

Russ: That's interesting. I have family in Dallas. Do any of these vehicles yet have the range where I could drive from Houston to Dallas?

Arun: Not yet, but over time our goal is to connect what we call the Texas Triangle. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, with San Antonio and Austin.

Russ: That means that little town called Centerville in the middle might just have a charging station one of these days. [Laughing]

Arun: [Laughing] You never know.

Russ: Well let's say right now that we've really got somebody who's paying attention and is interested. Today, I assume they could go to Nissan and look at the Leaf. Do the Nissan guys know about eVgo?

Arun: Absolutely. In fact, Nissan promotes the eVgo to all their customers who have signed up for the Nissan Leaf. Absolutely. In fact, we're also working with a lot of the other auto manufacturers to see about the validity of the eVgo model.

Russ: Okay. We're also really bit advocates of free enterprise, so I would expect perhaps at some time, there might be a competitive electric vehicle charging solution to residence of your markets that will be your competitor, right?

Arun: Sure.

Russ: So that will be interesting. I guess it's just like filling stations. Let's say I'm ready to sign up, do actual NRG or eVgo employees come to my house or do you work with contractors or electricians, that sort of people to install them?

Arun: We actually come out and do a home assessment to see if that involves a standard installation or a custom installation. The $89 a month package I told you about is for a standard installation. Once we do the home assessment, then we'll send out an electrical contractor to do the actual installation.

Russ: Okay. And then right after that's done, I'm probably good to go, right?

Arun: Once you have your car, you're ready to plug in.

Russ: Good to go with eVgo. [Laughing]

Arun: Absolutely. I like that, Russ.

Russ: I've been talking with Arun Banskota, the president of Electrical Vehicle Services with NRG Energy services. Arun, I really appreciate you sharing this story, and this is a cool business.

Arun: It's great to be here, Russ. Thank you so much.

Russ: You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.