{"id":37054,"date":"2025-01-23T11:58:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T10:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/?p=37054"},"modified":"2025-02-13T11:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T10:05:17","slug":"electric-vehicles-and-car-sharing-alex-witherows-road-to-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/electric-vehicles-and-car-sharing-alex-witherows-road-to-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Electric Vehicles and Car-Sharing Alex Witherow\u2019s Road to Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-4 wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Electric Vehicles and Car-Sharing Alex Witherow\u2019s Road to Sustainability\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UZoAO6T8SIs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>Episode Topic<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Join us as we explore the inspiring journey of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/alexwitherow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alex Witherow<\/a>, Executive Partner and Co-Founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kairosmobility.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kairos Mobility Ventures<\/a>. In this episode of EV Leaders, Alex shares his experience in transforming the electric vehicle (EV) and car-sharing industries. He provides practical insights into operational strategies, adopting new technologies, and overcoming challenges in scaling EV ecosystems. Learn how innovative solutions are driving the future of mobility and supporting decarbonization efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>Lessons You\u2019ll Learn<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Alex shares key lessons from his work in the car rental and ride-sharing industries. He explains how to scale a car-sharing business, transition to electric vehicles, and tackle infrastructure and adoption challenges. You\u2019ll gain actionable tips on building sustainable car-share models, understanding EV costs, and solving issues with batteries and charging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>About Our Guest<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Alex Witherow is a leader in the EV industry, with expertise in car-sharing operations and digital content creation. As Co-Founder of Kairos Mobility Ventures, he focuses on creating innovative EV solutions for ride-share and car-share businesses. Alex is also the founder of Car Rental University on YouTube, where he teaches viewers about the car-sharing business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>Topics Covered<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Growth of car-sharing and its comparison to services like Airbnb.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Challenges of scaling electric car-sharing fleets, including battery and charging issues.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Innovations in EV infrastructure and future charging technologies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Economic considerations of using EVs for ride-sharing and car-sharing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Practical advice for entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses in the EV market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading alignwide\"><strong>About the Guest:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignwide is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>Alex Witherow is a well-known figure in the car-sharing and electric vehicle (EV) industries, with nearly ten years of hands-on experience. He began his career in 2016 in New York City, managing a fleet of vehicles. This role gave him real-world insights into urban transportation, fleet operations, and the growing need for innovative mobility solutions. It also sparked his interest in finding smarter and more sustainable ways to address transportation challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2021, Alex launched the Car Rental University YouTube channel to help people understand the car rental and sharing business. Through his channel, he shares simple and practical advice for starting and growing successful businesses in this field. He breaks down complex topics like managing operations, analyzing markets, and improving customer experiences. His mission is to make the industry more accessible and to empower entrepreneurs with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Alex is the Chief Mobility Officer and Co-Founder of Kairos Mobility Ventures. This forward-thinking company focuses on promoting cleaner transportation through shared mobility and electric vehicle solutions. Alex plays a key role in expanding EV fleets across the U.S., tackling challenges like infrastructure, battery technology, and charging accessibility. He combines strategic planning with hands-on expertise to create efficient, sustainable solutions for the future of transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alex\u2019s work is driven by a vision to make transportation cleaner and more efficient. He believes that electric vehicles and shared mobility hold the key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving urban living. By addressing key challenges in the EV space, Alex helps pave the way for a more sustainable and accessible future in transportation. His efforts are not only shaping the industry but also inspiring others to adopt greener, smarter ways of moving forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"874\" height=\"874\" data-id=\"37056\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/c-1715802982148-img_9449jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37056\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/c-1715802982148-img_9449jpg.jpg 874w, https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/c-1715802982148-img_9449jpg-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/c-1715802982148-img_9449jpg-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/c-1715802982148-img_9449jpg-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 874px) 100vw, 874px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"582\" height=\"582\" data-id=\"37057\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/21155927-kairos-logo-300x231_enhanced.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37057\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/21155927-kairos-logo-300x231_enhanced.png 582w, https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/21155927-kairos-logo-300x231_enhanced-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/21155927-kairos-logo-300x231_enhanced-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Episode Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Welcome to another episode of the EV leaders, the podcast, where we explore the latest trends, innovations and insights in the electric vehicle and automotive industry. I&#8217;m your host, Ryan Atkinson, and today we have a very special guest with us. I am super thrilled to welcome Alex Witherow, the Executive partner and co-founder of Kairos Mobility Ventures, a company dedicated to accelerating the transition to electric mobility through strategic investments and innovations. Alex, thank you so much for being here. So, so excited to have you today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Great to be here. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Let&#8217;s lay the foundations for all the listeners. They might be thinking, okay, like I&#8217;ve heard of Alex before, but I want to know a little bit more about Kairo&#8217;s mobility. So can you kind of give us a little background of what you guys are doing over there at Kairos?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah. So a couple of things. I&#8217;ll take you even further back before Kairos. Uh, please. You know, I, I originally got into this industry in the car rental space probably about eight years ago. I was, uh, at the time, very involved in Airbnb in Manhattan, New York. If you tracked what was going on in Manhattan at the time, it was actually a very controversial time to be involved with Airbnb in Manhattan. So,&nbsp; I had a blast, uh, renting out, uh, apartments in Manhattan and putting them on Airbnb. But, uh, the city, uh, because the hotel lobby put so much pressure on the city to end Airbnb, they basically outlawed, uh, Airbnb in Manhattan. And, well, I absolutely loved the asset share model. So I was, determined to not give up. And so I went from apartments to cars. And at the time, eight years ago, this was a very new idea. This was something that, you know, I mean, many of your listeners may have heard of Turo.Turo was still released back then. Very new platform even back then. Even to this day, most, you know, at least half the population doesn&#8217;t even really understand what car share is, you know. So for me, I went out and bought over the course of two years. I bought five cars and I started renting them privately to Uber drivers.&nbsp; And so, you know, that was,for me,&nbsp; I really,&nbsp; you know, for me, it was the kind of thing where it was genuinely meant to be a side hustle for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow:<\/strong>at the time, I was working also as a stage and film actor in New York.&nbsp; I had, you know, a background in screenwriting as well. And so that for me was, uh, really kind of my side business that was sustaining me while I was, you know, in that world. Now, three years ago, I started a YouTube channel called Car Rental University.&nbsp; you know, as as it goes with every YouTuber in the first year of creating content, you&#8217;re just shouting into a black hole.&nbsp; but,&nbsp; it actually, if you stay consistent, things turn very quickly. And so that&#8217;s really what happened for me.&nbsp; I got pulled into getaround a pilot program. Getaround as a company. Uh, it is publicly traded. It is Turo&#8217;s main competitor. Uh, they are based,&nbsp; in a, you know, probably more larger cities throughout the United States. And so I was in Getaround pilot program as a host with my cars, and they had me set up in North Jersey, and it was a very hands off system, uh, much more than Turo. And so they were very much, uh, innovators in the space from a technological standpoint, because basically they had a new, groundbreaking technology that they had installed on cars as a vehicle telematics system, where customers and renters could just walk up to a car, find a car on GPS on the app, unlock it, pay for it, drive off and go enjoy their day and do whatever they need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>So that&#8217;s kind of where, you know, in the car share. So we call that car sharing right? So there&#8217;s a host who takes their cars, puts it out there on, on, you know, in the city. And then renters and customers can walk up to the car, rent it, drive it, etc.. So, you know, I&#8217;ve always been very pro asset share. I think it&#8217;s a great way for anyone to make money. So I my YouTube channel really focused on all the pitfalls of this industry. It&#8217;s a lot more complicated than the Airbnb situation. And so you&#8217;re dealing with insurance, you&#8217;re dealing with accidents claims. You&#8217;re dealing with Uber drivers who are in and of themselves inherently a headache.&nbsp; and so, you know, there&#8217;s a lot of different moving parts, no pun intended. But,&nbsp; you know, so that is so and then, you know, I, uh, Kairos Capital Resources reached out to me, uh, about a year ago. I started consulting with them about that. And then they brought me on toKairos Mobility Ventures, uh, and, uh, made me director of operations. And I&#8217;m now currently the chief mobility officer there. And so I manage our media teams as well as the operations teams.&nbsp; and I still, you know, run the YouTube channel. But Kairos Mobility is you know, our, our mission is really more focused on supplying electric vehicles in the car share space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Interesting. So let&#8217;s talk about that a little bit more. When you say supplying electric vehicles in the car share space. What does that mean. Does that mean you guys are buying 30 Teslas and you&#8217;re just giving them to Uber drivers? What does that mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah, it&#8217;s a great question.&nbsp; I would say in general, you know, when it comes to the car share industry, it is so, you know, to come back to the Airbnb example and Airbnb, you just go out there and you buy a house and you can Airbnb it. And for the most part, you know, there&#8217;s been some city regulation about that. You know, it depends where you&#8217;re living. But, you know, it&#8217;s a little trickier with cars because you can&#8217;t just go out and take 50 auto loans, right? So,&nbsp; they just don&#8217;t allow that. So, you know, there&#8217;s a lot of small businesses out there that have five, ten, maybe 15 cars and they are running these car share businesses. But really, you know, there&#8217;s companies out there like Uber, Turo, get around. They&#8217;re all pushing very hard to make more of their cars on their platforms, electric vehicles and to really kind of just, you know, progress the decarbonization initiative. Now obviously you know so yeah. So our goal is to supply a lot of these cars and to supply electric vehicles to these ecosystems where they are already renting them out to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>&nbsp;That said, you know, there&#8217;s been a lot of bad press about electric vehicles. There&#8217;s been a lot of bad press about infrastructure concerns and whatnot. So, you know, not only are we supplying these cars, but we are operating them on these platforms. And I would say that that&#8217;s kind of something that really sets our company apart is the understanding of operations, all the different plays in the playbook. You know, knowing how to do Turo Getaround private rentals,&nbsp; you know, a variety of different ways of renting the cars. There&#8217;s a big difference between retail renters, someone you would rent to on Turo versus like an Uber driver or rideshare driver. And frankly, you know, there&#8217;s a big difference between dealing with gas and diesel cars versus electric vehicles. That&#8217;s a whole different equation as well. So so that&#8217;s a big part of what we&#8217;re doing.&nbsp; and I think that this industry provides an interesting challenge because I do think there is a way. So a couple of things, you know, in terms of making electric vehicles viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>There&#8217;s been a lot of confusion and doubt about that, I&#8217;d say. And it&#8217;s even become a very political issue. Right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>And what I would say is that I try to look at this as pragmatically and objectively as possible. And I&#8217;m like, look, I&#8217;m here to make money. So can we make this work or not? You know. And I see that from an operational standpoint, there definitely is a way to make this work. For example, you know, we were talking previously about innovations in this space and, you know, a very easy way to, for example, I talked to whenever I go around, wherever I go, I hate driving. I much prefer to Uber. And whenever I get into a car with an Uber driver, if I&#8217;m in an EV, if I&#8217;m in a Tesla, if I&#8217;m in a Kia EV6 or something, I will talk their ear off for the next 20 or 30 minutes while I&#8217;m in the car. And I always want to know, like how you know, how do you feel about the charging situation? It doesn&#8217;t take too long. How long does it take? You know, all this stuff. And this is kind of a big thing that people are coming up against in the EV space, right? So we all know that Tesla has a network right now. It&#8217;s pretty fast. Yeah, it&#8217;s supercharger takes 15-20 minutes. No big deal. Go grab a coffee, come back out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>The car is charged. If you&#8217;re dealing with like, I don&#8217;t know, you know, a Kia EV6 or something different, something that&#8217;s not a Tesla. The infrastructure for that car, uh, for charging. Unless you have your own overnight fame situation in your garage, it&#8217;s a little more challenged right now, right? And I think just it&#8217;s frankly, I think it&#8217;s just a matter of time before that builds out and that becomes no longer an issue. Yeah.&nbsp; There is rumor that Tesla is building an adapter to allow other brands of EVs to charge into the Tesla network and their infrastructure. If that happens, frankly, that&#8217;s going to be a game changer. So I&#8217;m just, you know, I and to be fair, like, you know, some of your audience may be listening to this and being like, I don&#8217;t really know much about EVs. I&#8217;m kind of skeptical. Yeah, initially for myself as well, I didn&#8217;t really know what to think when I got into the space, and I just wanted to look at the numbers and look at it from an objective standpoint. But I really do think, I think you can make it. You can actually build a situation where it&#8217;s not only helping the environment in the transportation space, but it actually makes economic and viable sense as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Interesting. I want to ask specifically on those numbers that you like, did see, like, what are some of those numbers that come to mind of like when you&#8217;re looking at this and saying objectively like, you know what? This is actually like a pretty good opportunity slash the industry to be in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Well, I would say that. I mean, there&#8217;s clearly a huge opportunity, whether you&#8217;re in EVs or gas cars. Yeah. Car share and ride share. I mean, there I mean, there are as many Uber drivers as there are grains of sand in the ocean. So, you know, in terms of the demand for ride share rentals, it&#8217;s never ending. Mhm. It&#8217;s it&#8217;s I mean I always say this to I mean I consult with a lot of companies, especially in this space. And I say look like I&#8217;m not really that worried about competition just because I know there is so much business out there in, in most markets, especially from Uber drivers who are looking to rent out cars for the ride share use. Yeah. It is so pervasive. And you know, a lot of people say, well, why would they want to do that? Why don&#8217;t they just use their own car? Well, if you don&#8217;t have cash, if you don&#8217;t have credit, maybe you&#8217;re just starting out in this country. It&#8217;s a very, you know, obvious thing you don&#8217;t want to do is, you know, rent a car. And Uber has made a big push to say, hey, like, you know, we obviously will take anyone who wants to drive on our platform, but we really want to incentivize drivers to use electric vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Yeah, I think the Uber take is really interesting, especially for people that are coming overseas that want to drive Uber. I was just in South Africa and I&#8217;d get in the Uber and I&#8217;d be like, oh, I&#8217;m from like the United States slash Texas. And people would be like their eyes would like blow up like, oh my gosh, you&#8217;re from the United States. Like, I want to go over to the United States to drive Uber.&nbsp; the amount of times like I actually heard that was like, mind blowing. I probably heard it like probably 4 or 5 different occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, it&#8217;s not that exciting, but it&#8217;s all right. Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>It is what it is. But, uh, I also want to talk about, like, those companies that, like, you have consulted. Like what? What are some of like, can you provide specific examples on like, technology or companies,&nbsp; that you&#8217;ve invested in, and consulted for that are making a significant impact in this industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah. I mean, it kind of looks a little different for everyone. So, you know, we&#8217;re not like I said, we&#8217;re not actually developing actual technology for ourselves.&nbsp; yeah. I would say our innovation comes more from an operational standpoint. You know, we have a team that really understands how to rent a car six ways to Sunday. And so,&nbsp; and we also have a team that really understands, you know, how,&nbsp; you know, how it can be challenging to make EVs work. Like, yeah, you know, and, you know, we&#8217;re starting to offer options where, you know, just kind of a loose example where, you know, if a rideshare driver runs out of battery and they&#8217;re out on the road, like, you know, we can send someone to them to charge up the battery. Like, these are ideas that have, like, never really been, And, you know, pushed or tested in this industry. Yet that can make, you know, the situation and the circumstance for an Uber driver really make it make sense to drive. Now, aside from that, I mean, you know, the gas situation for Uber drivers.&nbsp; I would say they&#8217;re spending probably around four bucks an hour on gas.which adds up. I mean, that really adds up. Uh, that&#8217;s probably, I would say close to about 25%, maybe 20, 25% of their overall gross revenue that they&#8217;re booking as an Uber driver. So, you know, I do think that when you look at the economics of electric vehicles, a Tesla model three really does make a lot of sense to an Uber driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>For sure, because, uh, you&#8217;re not going to be, in fact, impacted by gas prices like as much. That&#8217;s what you&#8217;re saying, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Exactly, exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Interesting. I&#8217;m curious. Like I want to stick with, like, the economic part of it because obviously I feel like you can talk in depth about this, but like, what are some other like economic factors that,&nbsp; someone should think about because obviously that gas equation, I think that makes a ton of sense. But are there any other like equations like that that come to mind, uh, from an economic standpoint?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah. I mean, I think it&#8217;s the kind of thing where, you know, a lot of like, for example, uh, Hertz bought a ton of new Teslas, right? Yeah. And that&#8217;s there&#8217;s been a lot of bad press about that. They had a huge sell off. They&#8217;ve had,&nbsp; you know, they had a really big sell off. They had a lot of issues with battery repairs. Frankly, that&#8217;s the you know, that&#8217;s the elephant in the room when it comes to electric vehicles is how do you deal with the battery crashing when it does?&nbsp; it&#8217;s for those in your audience that don&#8217;t know, it&#8217;s a pretty expensive repair.&nbsp; Yeah. It typically comes in around $12 to $14,000, and it happens after about, you know, 120 to 150,000 miles on the car. Ooh. So. Yeah, I mean that&#8217;s a big hit. It&#8217;s a big hit. Now, other than that, normally,&nbsp; EVs don&#8217;t have a lot of really moving parts. So all they really require are new tires or new brakes.&nbsp; you know, obviously no oil changes or anything like that, but,&nbsp; yeah, the battery hit is right now. That&#8217;s the big issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>In my opinion, I just don&#8217;t think that, you know, brand new EVs that are sitting around 40 to $50,000 at MSRP. I don&#8217;t think they make a lot of sense in the rental space, because if you think about the if you have a $20,000 car that&#8217;s out on the road versus a $40,000 car, the rental value and the hourly rate is minimally higher, like marginally higher. So it really doesn&#8217;t justify that extra expense. So like I said, they&#8217;re you know, and so that&#8217;s why I say, you know, I think the space is very sensitive to the type of model, uh, that you put out on the road for rentals.&nbsp; I think that you can do this the right way, and you can do this the wrong way. And they both involve EVs, and I think that hurts, in my opinion. Uh, aside from having some pretty big operational issues,&nbsp; I think that,&nbsp; you know, I think that kind of lesson we can take from that whole debacle is that you, you know, we&#8217;ve really got to go with U.S. TVs moving forward to at least in the rental space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Absolutely.&nbsp; I want to keep going along with, like, other things that you are noticing, especially with a take like that as well is like what other,&nbsp; emerging trends like, what are some other emerging trends do you see having like a significant impact on the future of like electric vehicles?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>I think the cost of everything is going to start coming down a lot. Yeah, I think that&#8217;s the big I think that&#8217;s the big thing that&#8217;s going to happen.&nbsp; It&#8217;s going to start making a lot more sense financially to invest in EVs. Look, the EV market is not going anywhere. It&#8217;s just just beginning. Like it&#8217;s just starting. So, I mean, you think about this, you know, EV infrastructure is a very big booming industry. It&#8217;s still early on that, uh, like I said, should Tesla come out with an adapter,that allows all other EVs to use their Tesla charging network, that&#8217;s going to be a game changer. I do like I said, I think that just the general cost of the cars will come down. And, you know, I&#8217;m a big proponent of, you know, let them compete in the marketplace like, you know, let&#8217;s make EVs as, you know, good enough that they can really compete against any car for that matter. And it&#8217;s happening like it is happening. You know, Tesla has a great product to me. Like Tesla model three I think are such a no brainer, not only from a personal use standpoint but also from a rental standpoint. Yeah. So I do think that, you know, I also think that, you know, like Toyota Priuses, the hybrids are excellent. I think the Kia EV6 is a really great cars. You know, I&#8217;ve been in those before. Really nice cars, very spacious, just it has a great feel to it.&nbsp; So I do think that, you know, obviously, but, you know, there&#8217;s other companies like Volkswagen that have had issues and.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>They&#8217;ve done a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Factory. Yeah, yeah. So like I said, there&#8217;s a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this. And I think a lot of times people kind of just see headlines about EVs and they&#8217;re not really looking into the nuance of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Interesting. That honestly hits on my next point that I want to ask, like, what do you think are those like because like consumer adoption, the price goes down. Consumer adoption is probably going to go up. That&#8217;s just kind of economics doing economics things there. What are some of the psychological barriers that people are going to have to get over when it comes to, like adopting EVs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah.it&#8217;s just it comes down to two things, really. It&#8217;s the charging infrastructure and the battery repair. Those are the two big things. So,&nbsp; the charging infrastructure. I mean, I think that eventually everyone&#8217;s gonna learn how to charge an EV. It&#8217;s not rocket science, you know? And, like, right now, nobody knows what a level one, 2 or 3 charger is, right? Yeah. And if you don&#8217;t know, that means that relates to, you know, how fast and how powerful the charger is. Yeah, yeah.&nbsp; but, you know, it&#8217;s really not that hard. I think, you know, I think it&#8217;s only a matter of time before,the infrastructure gets built out.&nbsp; I think, you know, it&#8217;s a situation where, you know, I think there&#8217;s going to have to be some things that are going to have to change in the overall infrastructure in our country that are going to have to accommodate more power if we&#8217;re going to go this route. You know, I and I feel like we&#8217;ll probably have to make a move to nuclear power at some point to, to accommodate that. But I do think that the infrastructure, the charging component, I think is a psychological barrier to it. And then the battery situation. I Situation. I think there&#8217;s a lot of fear about batteries crashing and dying and having to drop, you know, you know, 12 to 14 grand on fixing that. Now, that said, uh, the price of batteries are coming down as well. So, you know, I think it&#8217;s like I said, I just think it&#8217;s a matter of time before this all gets kind of ironed out from an economic standpoint, and it really starts to make a lot of sense. We&#8217;re probably about 5 to 7 years away from that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Absolutely. And obviously I want to ask this question just because like it is presidential season here, like candidates have both sides. I&#8217;m curious about how to phrase this question: which side? I&#8217;m sure whatever. Which side do you think would be better for? Like the EV space? Just straight like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>To be honest with you, I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s going to matter that much. Okay.&nbsp; so, uh, I really don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s going to be a matter of that much.&nbsp; so, you know, I think, I think if the Democrats win, we&#8217;ll probably keep tax credits, uh, for EVs. You know, if you buy a tax credit or, you know, there&#8217;s about $7,500 tax credit for EVs right now. I think if Republicans win, that may go away. I think there&#8217;s pros and cons on both sides. For our business, we&#8217;re not really that worried about it. Frankly, I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s going to matter that much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Absolutely. Yeah. Just curious because obviously it&#8217;s a big thing here. And. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>And like I said, I think it&#8217;s almost needlessly politicized in a way that it&#8217;s not as dire as everyone makes it sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Absolutely. Yeah. For infrastructure to change to to get more infrastructure, what&#8217;s going to have to take place to get more charging ports? Is it more companies coming up in space? Is it Tesla opening up their ports, or what do you think needs to happen to get. Yeah, I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>I think it&#8217;s kind of an all hands on deck. Everyone&#8217;s got to kind of do something to I mean, like, it just kind of makes sense from an investment standpoint. And then I think once that happens, it&#8217;ll definitely start popping up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Interesting. I want to talk about,&nbsp; advice that you have for entrepreneurs or businesses that are like, hey, you know what? I&#8217;m hearing some really good things in this podcast. Maybe I want to start my own infrastructure charging ports company. Uh, what advice would you give to someone looking to enter the EV industry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah. So keep in mind, like, I don&#8217;t know much about, you know, I&#8217;ve never built a EV infrastructure company. So that&#8217;s that&#8217;s a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Outside of my.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, it&#8217;s a little outside my bailiwick. But you know, from a, I would say from a car share rideshare space that&#8217;s, that&#8217;s, you know, really more my expertise. I mean, there is, you know, the overall trend is this that most people don&#8217;t understand about this industry. And like I said, this industry is still very new. Very few people know about it. Uh, I feel like I&#8217;ve been in forever now. But still, when I talk to about people, about this industry and what I do, most people just don&#8217;t even really understand it. I would say that the overarching trend that we are seeing, especially in urban areas. So, you know, I lived in New York City for a for a long time. I mean, no one owns a car in New York. No one wants to own a car in New York. That&#8217;s that&#8217;s been like that forever, right? But cities are becoming more urbanized. And, you know, an interesting pilot program was done in New York City about five years ago by the city. And basically they said that for every car they put into Manhattan that was used for car sharing, for other people, for other car owners, either sold or got rid of their cars somehow.&nbsp; because they felt like they could, you know, just use a just rent a car on occasion that is sitting out there. So it was a very successful decongestion,&nbsp; study and initiative. And so this is really interesting. So, you know, and obviously in New York City, this type of model is a no brainer, right? I have owned cars in New York. It is not easy. Parking is very difficult. Um.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>It&#8217;s a nightmare. I don&#8217;t even want to think about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, I mean, it&#8217;s, you know, I mean, I got down to timing parking so well inside the city that I knew, like, the exact minutes I had to be there to find a parking spot, but, you know, it. It&#8217;s,&nbsp; you know, it&#8217;s the kind of thing where I think that you really have to look at the fact that. So. So you take that study and a lot of municipalities really took notice of that study and saying that, okay, if we allow if we put out spaces for the sake of car sharing, we can actually for every one of these cars we&#8217;re putting on the street, we can actually take four cars off the, uh, off the urban landscape. Yeah. To help with traffic right now, I know you live in Austin. Austin&#8217;s had a lot of traffic issues a lot, and I knew they had traffic issues five years ago, so I can only imagine how it is now. And so yeah. So this I would say, is a much easier way to rather than building an entire subway system in the city. So, you know, really all it takes is the city to put out, uh, designated, you know, spots for car sharing cars. That&#8217;s what New York City is doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>So, you know, you&#8217;ll go and you&#8217;ll see a sign that says truck it, or you&#8217;ll see a sign that says, uh, get around. And so you could really just you could walk up to one of those signs, pull out the app, book the car through the app, plug in your credit card information, and then you can pop the door and drive. There you go through the app. So that&#8217;s pretty cool that that that&#8217;s you know, that you&#8217;re able to do that. So this is really, I would say the overarching trend now. People are and look, I mean, the cost of ownership of a car these days is getting crazy. I mean, you know, all in these days, you&#8217;re probably almost at a thousand a month between payment, insurance, repairs, whatever. You know, so it&#8217;s a lot of money. So a lot of people are now kind of recalculating the economics of car ownership, and they&#8217;re thinking to themselves, if I live in a big city, it actually makes sense to either take public transportation or to just grab a car on the street and use it for the day, or use it for the weekend, and I pay 50 bucks and that&#8217;s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>And or just Uber around. I live like that currently. I mean, I much actually prefer living like that where I could just Uber around or if I need to go for a day or two, I&#8217;ll grab a car off of Getaround or Turo. Yeah, yeah.&nbsp; and frankly, all in, I&#8217;m spending maybe 300 bucks a month on Uber, uh, trips, you know? So it&#8217;s actually a lot. Now, I live in Miami, so, you know, owning a car here is kind of like a it&#8217;s a whole thing unto itself. Everyone likes to show off their cars here, but yeah. So a lot of, you know, a lot of different cities have different mentalities about this. You know, I would say that Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, these are all cities that are very much primed for the mindset of taking cars off, uh, you know, uh, less ownership and more car share. So I would say if you&#8217;re in those markets, there is a prime opportunity market to drop 5 or 10 cars into those markets. And you can, you know, pretty easily, you know, safely clear a thousand bucks a month in gross revenue per car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Interesting. Yeah. So are you looking for cities that have like. Because when I hear, like, Philly and San Francisco, I haven&#8217;t spent a whole lot of time there. But, like, are you looking for cities that don&#8217;t have, like, great public transportation?&nbsp; what are you kind of looking for?&nbsp; markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>You know, I mean, I would say it&#8217;s I would actually say it&#8217;s almost the opposite. I mean, you think about, you know, like San Francisco and Illinois, they don&#8217;t have great transportation, but Chicago has a good system. Uh, they have the l. You know, Boston has the T, new York City has subway. Uh, DC has a very good metro system. So these are people who are already in the mindset of taking public transportation. But every now and then they need a car to, you know, jump in and just run errands or go on a weekend trip. So, you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. I was, uh, I was I had my mindset flipped in that. But yeah, I feel like it&#8217;s people that are already doing taking public transportation that probably don&#8217;t have a car, especially like in the New York and then the Boston&#8217;s, uh, where, like a simple rideshare or like, ride company, like, this is like prime for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>what are some other challenges that you guys have had, like, uh, like your go to market strategy? Like. Yeah, I&#8217;m just like, curious. It&#8217;s very interesting. Like, problem. You guys are like, solving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah. I mean, it&#8217;s, uh. Yeah, it&#8217;s it&#8217;s a unique niche in, in this world. And, you know, I think most of the companies in this space are just struggling with scaling. Like I said, you can&#8217;t take out 50 auto loans. Yeah. So it&#8217;s really at that point you have to move on to private equity. And you know, when you talk to investors, you have to not only, you know, sell them on the proposition, but you really have to, like, educate them on what you know, what is this whole thing in general and what is this trend that&#8217;s happening and why are fewer people owning cars? And, you know, how does the electric electrification component play into all of this, and how do we make that work and those nuances. So there&#8217;s a lot to talk about when you are, you know, talking to investors about this.&nbsp; so I would say that,&nbsp; I would say and then when I do consultations with companies, always number one problem is how do we get more cars, how do we scale? How do we how do we grow? You know, that&#8217;s always the challenge. So there is I would say there&#8217;s a there&#8217;s a big atmospheric bubble sitting on top of this industry that&#8217;s that&#8217;s holding companies down to, you know, 30 to 50 cars tops, especially in the car share space where you have kind of more homegrown Growing entrepreneurs that are running these companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>So last question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>And I&#8217;m not talking about like, yeah, I&#8217;m not talking about like like a Hertz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Who. Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah. Been around forever right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>Yeah, absolutely. So one more question for you here. Just like if if you have one advice to someone, one piece of advice for someone to be successful in this industry, like what would you specifically tell them? Yeah, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Uh, when I talk to new entrepreneurs in this space,&nbsp; really the hardest thing there is, I would say when people are dealing with cars, we all have kind of an emotional attachment to a car, right? You get a new car, you&#8217;re like, oh, this is lovely. I&#8217;m gonna drive it around. Yeah. You want to take good care of it. When you&#8217;re dealing with rentals, electric, electric rentals or whatever, gas rentals, whatever, you just have to kind of like, emotionally let go of that and just see the car as an asset that generates money. And so, you know, these cars in the rental space, they get nicks, cuts. You know they&#8217;re going to get totaled on occasion so that that&#8217;s just part of it. So I would say that, you know, that&#8217;s that&#8217;s really just a part of the business. So, you know, I would kind of just emotionally let go of, you know, keeping the car perfectly in perfect condition because it just never happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan: <\/strong>That&#8217;s awesome. Well, Alex, I was like, man, you know what? I actually need to learn more about this subject and how I can do it. And they want to connect with you. Uh, where can people learn more about you and connect with you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alex Witherow: <\/strong>Yeah, you can go to car rental. Com, that&#8217;s my main website. Also I&#8217;m on. If you just type in Car Rental university on YouTube, you will find my channel right there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sbotop, Ole777 \u0e41\u0e25\u0e30 Lionth \u2013 \u0e40\u0e27\u0e47\u0e1a\u0e40\u0e14\u0e34\u0e21\u0e1e\u0e31\u0e19\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e44\u0e21\u0e48\u0e04\u0e27\u0e23\u0e1e\u0e25\u0e32\u0e14!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u0e1e\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e08\u0e30\u0e2a\u0e19\u0e38\u0e01\u0e01\u0e31\u0e1a\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23\u0e40\u0e14\u0e34\u0e21\u0e1e\u0e31\u0e19\u0e2d\u0e2d\u0e19\u0e44\u0e25\u0e19\u0e4c\u0e01\u0e31\u0e1a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jectcode.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sbotop<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/jectcode.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ole777<\/a>, \u0e41\u0e25\u0e30 <a href=\"https:\/\/jectcode.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lionth<\/a><\/strong> \u0e40\u0e1e\u0e37\u0e48\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e31\u0e1a\u0e1b\u0e23\u0e30\u0e2a\u0e1a\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23\u0e13\u0e4c\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e14\u0e35\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e2a\u0e38\u0e14\u0e43\u0e19\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23\u0e40\u0e14\u0e34\u0e21\u0e1e\u0e31\u0e19\u0e01\u0e35\u0e2c\u0e32\u0e41\u0e25\u0e30\u0e2a\u0e25\u0e47\u0e2d\u0e15\u0e2d\u0e2d\u0e19\u0e44\u0e25\u0e19\u0e4c!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u26bd <strong>Sbotop<\/strong> \u2013 \u0e40\u0e27\u0e47\u0e1a\u0e41\u0e17\u0e07\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e25\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e43\u0e2b\u0e49\u0e04\u0e48\u0e32\u0e19\u0e49\u0e33\u0e2a\u0e39\u0e07\u0e41\u0e25\u0e30\u0e2d\u0e31\u0e15\u0e23\u0e32\u0e15\u0e48\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e2d\u0e07\u0e14\u0e35 \u0e1e\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e15\u0e31\u0e27\u0e40\u0e25\u0e37\u0e2d\u0e01\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e2b\u0e25\u0e32\u0e01\u0e2b\u0e25\u0e32\u0e22<br>\ud83c\udfb0 <strong>Ole777<\/strong> \u2013 \u0e40\u0e01\u0e21\u0e2a\u0e25\u0e47\u0e2d\u0e15\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e41\u0e15\u0e01\u0e07\u0e48\u0e32\u0e22 \u0e1e\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e42\u0e1a\u0e19\u0e31\u0e2a\u0e41\u0e25\u0e30\u0e1f\u0e35\u0e40\u0e08\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e4c\u0e1e\u0e34\u0e40\u0e28\u0e29\u0e21\u0e32\u0e01\u0e21\u0e32\u0e22<br>\ud83d\udcb0 <strong>Lionth<\/strong> \u2013 \u0e40\u0e01\u0e21\u0e2a\u0e25\u0e47\u0e2d\u0e15\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e21\u0e35\u0e2d\u0e31\u0e15\u0e23\u0e32\u0e1c\u0e25\u0e15\u0e2d\u0e1a\u0e41\u0e17\u0e19\u0e2a\u0e39\u0e07 (RTP) \u0e1e\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e1f\u0e35\u0e40\u0e08\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e4c\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48\u0e0a\u0e48\u0e27\u0e22\u0e43\u0e2b\u0e49\u0e04\u0e38\u0e13\u0e0a\u0e19\u0e30\u0e1a\u0e48\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e02\u0e36\u0e49\u0e19<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 <strong>\u0e40\u0e23\u0e34\u0e48\u0e21\u0e15\u0e49\u0e19\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23\u0e40\u0e14\u0e34\u0e21\u0e1e\u0e31\u0e19\u0e44\u0e14\u0e49\u0e17\u0e35\u0e48 <a href=\"https:\/\/jectcode.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">jectcode.com<\/a><\/strong> \u0e1e\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e23\u0e31\u0e1a\u0e42\u0e1b\u0e23\u0e42\u0e21\u0e0a\u0e31\u0e48\u0e19\u0e41\u0e25\u0e30\u0e42\u0e1a\u0e19\u0e31\u0e2a\u0e1e\u0e34\u0e40\u0e28\u0e29\u0e2a\u0e33\u0e2b\u0e23\u0e31\u0e1a\u0e2a\u0e21\u0e32\u0e0a\u0e34\u0e01\u0e43\u0e2b\u0e21\u0e48!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Episode Topic Join us as we explore the inspiring journey of Alex Witherow, Executive Partner and Co-Founder of Kairos Mobility Ventures. In this episode of EV Leaders, Alex shares his experience in transforming the electric vehicle (EV) and car-sharing industries. He provides practical insights into operational strategies, adopting new technologies, and overcoming challenges in scaling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":37063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-fr"],"lang":"fr","translations":{"fr":37054},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greendrive-accessories.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}