Q&A with Andrew Pontius – Evolectric’s Advisory Board Member

Tell us about your background and how you got involved in the cleantech industry.

I’ve been a part of cleantech since before electric vehicles were even slightly popular. I started with an exhaust company in 1988, and I can remember when catalytic converters were these little lead BBs inside of a can. We’ve come a long way since then. It has been a 30-plus-year journey for me making the internal combustion engine (ICE) as clean as possible. For me, electric vehicles are the no-brainer solution to what we’ve been trying to do with the ICE for over 100 years. I am proud of what our industry has accomplished with the ICE, and I’m super excited about what we can accomplish with electric.

What excites you most about this specific field/industry in clean technology?

What makes me passionate about this industry is that I am not in love with any one solution – I am in love with the idea of progress.

I’ve poured my life into exhaust system solutions for ICEs. But when a better solution is looking at you in the face, there is no point to fight it. You should embrace it. For me, embracing the simplicity of electrification is such an exciting jump forward into what we can do.

What stands out to you about Evolectric?

I am drawn to people who want to do the right thing because it’s the right thing. When I met Bill, he was not starting his own company. He was working for other electric vehicle companies or power supply companies for electric vehicles. His passion was obvious, but so was his frustration. It’s that frustration that drives somebody who is as passionate as him to strike out on his own. Nobody does it for pleasure, they do it because they’re compelled. It’s in their nature to do something better.

I am drawn to that spirit I see with Bill and Jakson. It’s very inspiring to see somebody who wants to do the right thing not to just make a bunch of money or become famous but because it’s just the right thing to do for the world.

Evolectric’s mission is to advance global electrification by enabling and providing products and services that unlock current and new electrification technologies to emerging markets and underserved segments. Being a part of the Evolectric advisory board, how do you see yourself adding to this mission?

As an engineer/marketer/branding aficionado, I pride myself in understanding the needs of a market well enough to know the right product for that market when I see it. I can challenge the Evolectric team to be sure that the product that they’re coming up with properly fits the needs of the market that they want to pitch it in. It’s been my specialty for three decades to figure out the right fit between the product and the customer.

The green mobility industry is constantly changing. Based on your experience, what shifts can we expect to see within the next five to 10 years?

Something my first boss always said to me was, “Andrew, you don’t know what it is you don’t know.” As an industry, we don’t know what it is we don’t know yet. In the next 10 years, we are going to go through periods where we move faster toward electrification that we ever thought we could. We are also going to see things come up that are going to slow us down that we didn’t expect. It’s going to be this surging and retracting and trying to merge everything together that is going to be really interesting to watch.

I think the only thing I can absolutely predict with certainty is uncertainty. We’re all going to be surprised with what happens between now and 2030. It’s going to be a bumpy, fun ride.

What trends are you most excited about in the cleantech field right now?

The biggest trend that I am excited about is social acceptance of electrification. This has, for the last 10 years, been the most basic reason why we haven’t moved faster. People have kind of ignored it. It’s going to be hard to ignore from now on because your next rental car might be a Tesla.

As far as technical trends go, I think the mass production of the bits that make up an electric vehicle is going to be one of those surprises we’re going to see – that is the cells, the modules, the packs, and the power management systems on the vehicles. The more of those we make and design, the simpler and the less expensive they’re going to get. We’re going to surprise ourselves how fast the pricing of these vehicles is going to come down.

What are the biggest challenges today for cleantech? What is holding this technology back from advancing?

Charging speed is a big one. Having been an electric vehicle driver, I understand that the only time charging speed matters is when I am on a trip. Otherwise, we should be able to manage our way through our daily life with night charging, job charging, shopping charging, etc. But the speed at which we can charge and the availability of that charging while we are on a trip are huge enablers. I am not going to call it a roadblock, because it’s not going to be there very long.

The other one, of course, is grid infrastructure for delivery of the power. But I think that with enough people thinking about it throwing their brains and money at it, it will get solved too.

As a member of Evolectric’s advisory board, can you share the vision you have for the company?

What I’m excited to see is if the team has a solution that meets a market price that they know would be accepted and well received in the markets that they’re targeting. I’m also excited to see the level of off-the-shelf standardization that can be achieved. They’re asking themselves an important question: “What can we repurpose that’s already been in a vehicle before, and how can we reuse it in another vehicle?”

In all cases, their intention is to use off-the-shelf products. This is a very different approach from what most OEMs are doing. It could, in theory, drastically reduce the cost of the powertrain.

Is there a quote that motivates you?

I said this to my team the other morning when they were stuck:

“If you believe that you will get the absolute best from your people, then that is what you’ll get.”

What is your favorite place in the world?

I’m going to answer your question with a non-answer. I love all places that I’ve traveled because I love to experience different things. When someone says, “Was it better living in Paris, or was it better living near Munich?”, my answer is “Neither”. They’re both different and wonderful in their own way. I’m convinced that you can move one kilometer from your current house and find new things to be excited about. But when you move halfway around the world, for sure, you can find things to be excited about.

I’ll be more direct in my answer now. There are very few places I’ve been that I’ve felt as alive as when I was in South Africa. It could be because I jumped off a cliff, did shark cage diving, played with lions, etc. But it was an amazing trip.