ICYMI: How SparkCharge Is Taking EV Fleet Charging Off-Grid

0:00So there's a lot of noise about AI, but time's too tight for more promises. So let's talk about results. At IBM, we work with our employees to integrate technology right into the systems they need. Now, a global workforce of 300 ,000 can use AI to fill their HR questions, resolving 94 % of common questions. Not noise. Proof of how we can help companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business. When you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges.

0:42At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering, and claims experience. Learn more at thehartford.com slash risk mitigation. Policies provided by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, Hartford, Connecticut. As industries evolve faster than ever, companies need an environment that accelerates strategic growth. And Michigan delivers on that promise.

1:17From emerging startups to global enterprises, Michigan offers what executives value most, a resilient, innovative ecosystem, diverse communities that attract top talent, and a quality of life that supports work-life balance. With our unified Team Michigan approach, businesses scale faster and compete at the highest level. Michigan, pure opportunity. Seize your opportunity at michiganbusiness.org. Wise is the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the globe. When you send money abroad using your bank, you could get hit with hidden fees and exchange rate markups. There's a better way.

1:51Try Wise. Wise uses the exchange rate you'd usually find on Google with no unwelcome surprises. Plus, most transfers happen in under 20 seconds, which means your money arrives in less time than you've been listening to me. It's simple and free to sign up when you download the Wise app. Be smart. Get wise. T's and C's apply.

2:13Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevec on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Carol Masser along with Matt Miller in for Tim Stenevec on Bloomberg Business Week Daily on this Monday. Actually here with us for a couple of days. And this is our gift to you. We know how much you love cars. Thank you. And the EV space. Thank you. You're welcome.

2:38Josh Aviv:I really do. You know what? I know you do. I'm kind of a convert now because I'm an old. But you don't have an EV yet, do you? No, because I'm a gearhead. I like to work on my cars myself. I like old American muscle. I like cars to be loud and smell like gasoline and vibrate a lot. But lately I've been driving a ton of EVs. I drive a new car every week for my podcast. It's called Hot Pursuit with Hannah Elliott. And just the acceleration, the handling has gotten so much better. There's so many more to choose from that it's not just boring looking Teslas with Spartan interiors. That it's become almost a preferred mode of transportation for me.

3:17Josh Aviv:The one problem I have still. Charging. The charging network is so bad. Yeah. So we have a guest who's got a front row seat to it. So let's bring him in. Josh Aviv is founder and CEO of Spark Charge. He's out there in Massachusetts. Josh, good to have you here with Matt. Get ready for a grilling because it is Matt Miller. We're ready. We're ready. Listen, your company reminds us that it is the world's largest EV fleet charging network. Lay it out for us. Where it is, how many, who's using it. Give us some size and scope. Absolutely. So Spark Charge is the world's largest off-grid EV fleet charging network.

3:54We have operations across all 50 states and recently just launched in Canada and Mexico. What makes us special is that we bring the power to the fleet. So we show up with our off-grid mobile battery chargers and mobile power hubs. We can get going without any grid connection, which means we get fleets up and running and charging in as little as three to seven days versus them having to wait as much as two to three years for infrastructure to catch up.

4:18Josh Aviv:So you're the biggest off-grid EV charging network. What does that mean? Meaning you're not the consumer chargers that are built up in malls or next to a Starbucks. You're working with like Ford Pro kind of customers to charge their trucks. Exactly. So you're working with construction fleets, with plumbers, with electricians, with anybody who's got a pro fleet. Amazon. Wow. It's like Amazon, last mile delivery, rideshare fleets as well, construction fleets, rental car fleets, school bus fleets. Think about the problem that consumers have where they're like, hey, I need to figure out how to charge one car.

5:01Fleets have the issue of how do I charge 20 cars, 100 cars, and how do I do that every day to keep my business going? And we step in and we basically get them up and running quicker than any other electrification option on planet Earth. We can get a full fleet up and running in as little as three days, fully electrified, and those cars out on the road. Dude, that is such a great business. How did you start this? Yeah, so we started it when we realized that a lot of fleets were waiting anywhere from two to five years before the grid would catch up and allow them to electrify. And we said, well, what happens if we bring the energy to you or if we get power set up to where we can use our batteries to get you charging almost immediately?

5:44What we realized is that fleets, they'll incorporate 50 cars, they'll incorporate 20 cars, but then they'll have the issue of going to the grid and saying, hey, we want to get these cars electrified, but the grid can't handle the demand of all these vehicles. And so we show up, we get them up and going with our mobile battery chargers, which means they're charging from a giant battery connected to charging stations. And then they're able to get up and running a lot quicker. And then they also have a smoother service, right? There's no such thing as grid delays or power outages, especially when it's being battery backed.

6:16All the energy is there. Wait, so you just kind of bring a massive battery to places and that's how you do it? Is it on 18 wheels? How do you transport that? Yeah, so some of them are trailer based. Some of them are container based. But basically, we can get that fleet set up operating off that battery and then they can begin charging from those charging stations immediately. We also have power hubs that use basically clean energy like hydrogen and things like that. They can also get a fleet up and running quickly as well. That's what I was going to. So how do you charge your battery? That's what I'm curious.

6:49Like where are you getting the power and how do you make sure it's cost efficient, especially when there's such a power grab right now with all the AI going on? Absolutely. So we're pretty much energy agnostic. So that means that we can grab energy from solar, which a lot of times that's what we'll do. We'll swap the battery out. So we'll basically have a battery recharging from a solar partner. We'll bring it in. We'll swap it out with a fresh battery and then keep that fleet going 24-7, 365. To the fleet, it looks like limitless energy. And we're managing all the power on the back end, which means they never have to worry about downtime or any operational inefficiencies.

7:23We're constantly swapping that battery out or hooking it up to solar to keep them going.

7:28Josh Aviv:I'm normally pretty skeptical, but I was like, wow, what a cool company. What a great idea. It seems so straight what? He's just a great pitch man also, right? I didn't see until now that you got a million dollar investment from Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner on Shark Tank. You've won various awards, too. So you're great at selling these businesses, Josh. What's your... But there has to be demand. Otherwise, you don't have a business. No, for sure. No, it's huge. And I mean, look at how well Ford Pro has done with that unit. It's just unbelievable, the growth. But what's your exit? I mean, are you looking to IPO this company?

8:03Josh Aviv:Will you sell it to a bigger company? How do you get Mark Cuban's money out? Yes, I mean, right now, we're really just focused on execution. We're having an amazing year, thank God. And we're really seeing fleets come to us and say, hey, we want to get going a lot quicker. We don't want to wait. And so we're having an amazing year. I think for us, the right exit will present itself. But right now, we're focused on scale. We're focused on making sure our customers are happy and making sure that we're onboarding a new fleet. Keep in mind, because we're not waiting on the grid to catch up, because we're able to service these fleets, we're almost onboarding a new fleet every week.

8:40So, you know, while we don't come out there and say it, we're probably one of the fastest growing EV charging networks out there as well. Wait, execution. No offense. It's a pet peeve for me when an executive says execution. I don't know what that means. It's like everybody dumps things into that work.

8:56Josh Aviv:They just want to grow their business, you know, and they don't want to tell you what their exit is. So tell us, I mean, what does that mean? what do you need to do? What do you need to hit? What targets in order to really be successful and sustainable longer term? Absolutely. So for us, success is making sure that when we get a fleet operational, we're getting them operational to where they can actually grow their fleet. A lot of times fleets will come to us and they'll say, hey, I'm starting out with 10 cars, but my goal is to get to 100 cars and the grid can't keep up with that growth. Plus, the time to install is going to take me three to five years at that number of vehicles.

9:29So for us, execution means, hey, get this fleet up and running in three to seven days, get them fully electrified. And then now that they're fully electrified and they want to grow their fleet, let's grow with them. Let's allow them to go from 10 vehicles to 20, 20 to 50, 50 to 100, and see long-term growth with that fleet partner over a number of years as they continue to grow and operate. And because we're getting them up and running quicker, we want them to see a better ROI than if they had to wait on infrastructure to catch up. All right.

9:59Josh Aviv:So we're speaking right now with Josh Aviv. He's the founder and CEO of Spark Charge, if you're just joining us, out of Massachusetts. And I know that you're focused on, you know, the pro, you know, the commercial fleets, but you must also love cars. I've been in a ton of EVs lately. I was in a Chevy Blazer EV SS. I was in a Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack, which I loved. Right now I'm in a Cadillac Vistic, which I'm also just really positively surprised by. What do you drive? What's your DD, Josh? I drive a 2026 Cadillac Vistic. The Vistic is pretty sick, isn't it? I was truly impressed by this vehicle.

10:40Josh Aviv:I love it. I didn't love the Escalade IQ as much, which is the bigger EV. It's massive. It's a giant. It's like a giant house on wheels. But the Fistic is relatively snappy for a car that can still hold like seven people. What do you do for your charging when you're on the road, when you're going around, you know, to make work trips and you can't just be charging at home every night? What's your experience been with the U.S. consumer charging network? Yeah, so I'd say, you know, when it comes to road trips and things like that, one of the things that I love about the Vistic, it's got, I think, you know, real world mileage roughly around 330 miles of range.

11:22And so I've been able to go from basically Boston down to New Jersey and almost all the way back on a single charge without having to stop. And I love it. I love it. I love the super cruise on it. But it's probably, in my opinion, one of the best EVs I've driven. And I've owned, I think, close to 10 EVs in my lifetime. So love that car. I think when it comes to travel charging, I've typically used the Tesla Supercharger Network or Electrify America, any of your standard EV charging networks. So what do you make of the state of EVs in America under this administration, which seems to have been pulling back?

12:00Josh Aviv:There's a lot of backlash. It seems like sales have slowed down. But what do you say? Is there any doubt in your mind, Josh, that we're all driving EVs in 10 years? There is no doubt in my mind. I think, look, I think what it's going to come down to is the economics of owning an EV. Right. I think that's and I think that probably should have been the focal point from day one. Right. Look how much money you're going to save when you're charging at home. Right. Look at the time save not having to go to the gas station. Right. Look at the experience of just being able to plug in when you pull in to your driveway.

12:32Right. I think that is really going to come down to it. And if you think about it, the low cost of maintenance. I can't remember the last time I went to a mechanic for an oil change. I can't remember the last time I went to a mechanic because the engine light came on. I didn't know what that meant. The low cost of ownership for an electric vehicle is ultimately going to push more people to own electric vehicles. And I think that is why in the next 10 years we are all going to be driving EVs. It's because they're going to save so much money to the consumer.

13:00Josh Aviv:Carol will switch when they drive themselves. She wants her own personal Waymo at her house in Jersey City. I do love Waymo, but I do like the idea of EVs. I don't want to, you know, I'm concerned about the environment. Hey, Josh, stay in touch. Josh Aviv, founder and CEO of Spark Charge, joining us from Massachusetts. You got to get him on my podcast. No. Hot Pursuit with Hannah Elliott. No. Yes, you could. Yeah, we'll share. We'll share.

13:26Healthcare doesn't always work great. If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it. That's the kind of stuff Optum is changing. They're using data and technology to integrate patient care, pharmacy, and everything else. So healthcare is connected, not complicated. What's that look like? Cheaper prescriptions that are easier to get and care that looks at the whole person. How you need it. Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Learn more at business.optum.com. everyone's talking about how ai is transforming work especially in sales while the landscape shifts one thing remains the same the thrill of closing a deal whether it's a gong or a confetti machine every team has its celebration rituals addio is designed for that moment it's the agentic crm that turns customer signals into actionable insights helping you close deals faster with revenue agents and automations working around the clock you'll have everything you need to scale your go-to market efforts.

14:22Elevate your wins with Adio. Start your free trial at adio.com slash iHeart. Aging is real, and so are the benefits of adding Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides to your daily routine. New Vital Proteins Collagen Sparkling Water. Your daily glow-up now in three fresh flavors. Strawberry Blossom, Lemon Lime, and Blood Orange. Improved skin health in as little as 30 days thanks to collagen peptides. Cheers to that, or go with our classic collagen peptides, so you can stay vital, stay you. Visit VitalProteins.com to learn more and where to buy. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

14:55This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. When you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges. At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering, and claims experience.

15:28Learn more at thehartford.com slash risk mitigation. Policies provided by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, Hartford, Connecticut.