As the industry transitions to electric vehicles, Ford has made it clear it intends to be one of the EV leaders and aims to build 2 million EVs annually by 2026. With highly acclaimed EV models, including the F150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, a re-organization into two divisions — Blue for the internal combustion engine vehicles and Model E for EVs — the company is well positioned for a future dominated by batteries rather than pistons.​

In a first for EV InSIDER LIVE, co-hosts Brian O’Leary, and Loren McDonald will interview Ford’s, Vice President Global EV Programs, Darren Palmer, live from the Detroit Auto Show exhibit hall floor. We’ll cover a wide range of topics with Darren, including announcements from Ford at the auto show, Ford’s next-generation platform which is due out in 2025, battery developments, scaling production, bi-directional charging, software and OTAs, autonomy, EV model pipeline, and the differences between the North America and European markets.

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Join us for an enlightening discussion on the state of mobility and EV charging infrastructure with Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. As the US targets having roughly 40 million EVs on the road in 2030, Gabe and his teams are tasked with helping federal, state, and local governments work together with private industry to build out reliable and ubiquitous charging infrastructure. 

Hosts Brian O’Leary and Loren McDonald will dive into three main topic areas with Gabe, who has worked as a mobility venture capital partner, executive positions at startups including ZipCar, and run transportation departments at the local level in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Our conversation will explore:

1. The role and progress of the Joint Office, which coordinates activities and programs between the US Department of Transportation and Department of Energy.
2. Improving the EV charging experience through standards, new technologies, accountability, reliability initiatives, and industry partnerships. 
3. Beyond EVs: Building multimodal mobility solutions at the local city level with mayors. 

This is a must-attend conversation for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the role of government in building out mobility and charging infrastructure.

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​Join us in this captivating discussion as Michael Dunne, expert on the Asian and Chinese auto market and automakers, provides his insights into China's unprecedented dominance in the electric vehicle (EV) and battery industry. Delve into the factors that propelled China to its current position, explore its global market expansion strategy, and gain valuable insights into the implications for Europe, North America, and the rest of the world. Discover the potential challenges America faces in independently achieving EV and battery production goals without relying on China's expertise and resources. This is a must-attend event for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of China's electrifying impact on the automotive industry. Less

Join co-hosts Brian O'Leary and Loren McDonald as they interview Oliver Gross, Global Director of Energy Services - Electrification and EV Operations at Stellantis. The May 11 EV InSIDER Live webcast will focus on batteries and the future role of automakers in the energy industry, battery chemistries, battery lifespan and the role of recycling and second life use of EV batteries, supply chain issues, and if America emerges as a battery powerhouse.

In this highly interactive and candid discussion, Oliver will share his views and expertise on topics including:

• The role of automakers in the future, including the circular economy, and whether they will follow Tesla's lead and be in both the electric vehicle mobility and energy spaces. Oliver will outline his idea for the Energy Internet of Things (EIoT), vehicle-to-grid opportunities, and the interplay with microgrids and virtual power plants.

• The latest developments in battery technology and chemistry that could significantly extend the life of EV batteries. The likely ”high/low” bi-furcation of battery chemistries for low-range and long-range EV applications. Which approach will win out in the end: recycling or repurposing batteries in second-life applications? How will b-directional charging affect battery life? Is the 70%-80% energy capacity rule of thumb for EV end-of-life the right metric, or do we need to think differently about the end-of-life of batteries?

• How will the recent Clean Vehicle Credit (CVC) battery cell critical materials requirement affect automakers' supply chain sourcing and choice of battery chemistry going forward? Will EV battery production be akin to the New Deal in America? What about the politics and challenges of producing battery cells, primarily with Asian partners? How will regional regulations impact the powertrain and battery strategies of automakers? Less

​With dozens of new and increasingly compelling electric vehicle (EV) models with near or more than 300 miles of range coming to market, the biggest hurdle to mass adoption of EVs is reliable and convenient charging infrastructure. But many challenges lay ahead.

In the April EV InSIDER Live webcast, John Thomas, COO of Autel, a fast-growing EV charging hardware company, will share his views and expertise from being on the frontlines of this race to help America buildout both Level 2 and DC fast-charging infrastructure. Co-hosts Brian O’Leary and Loren McDonald will have a highly interactive and candid conversation with John and focus on three core topics areas:

• Current State of the Industry: Who are the key players and roles in the ecosystem? Are current business models the right approach? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the billions of dollars in public funding? What’s behind poor uptime at many charging networks? Will charging networks ever make a profit?

• Can the Industry Deploy Chargers to Meet Charging Demand?: How challenging will the Buy America rules be that reduce supply options combined with shortages of transformers, switchgear, and electricians? Can utilities keep up with the demand to connect chargers to the grid? Do we even need as many chargers as some predict?

• Future of EV Charging: Will public chargers become digital billboards? Will the industry re-focus on Level 2 charging for daily driving needs? What new types of chargers might we see? What role with AI, machine learning, and data play? Less

2022 has been a year of ups and downs and zigzags for the EV and EV charging industry. From supply chain issues, and massive legislative changes including bans on ICE vehicles to billions of dollars in funding for fast charging and battery infrastructure. And it has also been an amazing first season and five episodes of the EV InSIDER Live webcast.

End 2022 with a high voltage charge from hosts Brian O’Leary and Loren McDonald, who will share their favorite highlights of season one and provide predictions for the industry in 2023. Join them for a lively discussion including your questions and comments throughout the webcast.

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With the global transition to vehicle electrification moving into high gear, hundreds and hundreds of startups are chasing what is one of the largest business opportunities in the last 100 years. From electric vehicle OEMs such as Rivian, Lucid Motors, and Fisker, to battery startups such as Solid Power, ONE, and QuantumScape, or EV charging companies such as Volta, WiTricity, and EVgo, there will likely be more losers than winners in this race for market and mindshare.

In this webcast, Alexa St. John, auto reporter for Business Insider who specializes in covering EV industry startups, will share her thoughts on the headwinds facing many of these startups and who some of the most likely survivors and next unicorn companies will be. Hosts Brian O’Leary and Loren McDonald will dive into key topics with Alexa including:

• What are the key hurdles and challenges facing these startups in today’s challenging economic and supply-chain constrained environment?
• What are the profiles, traits, and signs of success that companies in the EV space have that will most likely determine whether they die, survive, or thrive this decade?
• Which EV startups among the current crop will survive? Who has the capital, team, backing, supply-chain relationships to pull it off? Who is in trouble? And who are some of the sleeper companies in the EV battery and charging space?

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With the number of EVs on the road in the US expected to reach nearly 40 million in 2030 from roughly 2.7 million today, several questions have emerged around whether our regional grids will be able to support this growth in demand and load.

In California for example, modeling from the Energy Innovation Policy & Technology research firm shows electricity demand could grow 18% from 2020 levels by 2030, as vehicles and buildings electrify. But because EVs are essentially storage batteries on wheels and most passenger vehicles sit parked 22 or more hours per day, they have the huge potential to help stabilize the grid rather than bring it down.

In this webcast, Apoorv Bhargava, expert on the grid and EVs and CEO/co-founder of WeaveGrid, a software company that builds data products to enable increased adoption of electric vehicles, will share his thoughts on how the role of emerging techniques such as managed charging, vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home will play out this decade. Hosts Brian O’Leary and Loren McDonald will dive into key topics with Apoorv including:

• What we learned about EVs and the grid from the recent threat of blackouts in California
• The role of managed charging as a key tool in utilities’ toolbox to minimize the load impact of EVs during high demand times of the day.
• The promise of vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-building to feed power to the grid or minimize the need for additional power generation.

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By 2030, electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to reach nearly 40 million vehicles on the road in the US and around 12% of all vehicles. This growth in EVs will demand a significant increase in charging infrastructure where people live, work, shop, and travel to — and the utility backbone of power generation, grid transmission, and local distribution.

In this webcast, utility consultant and expert Kevin Hernandez of consulting firm ScottMadden, will share his thoughts on what he believes is the utility industry’s biggest business opportunity in 100 years — but also its largest challenge of which to take advantage. Hosts Brian O’Leary and Loren McDonald will dive into key topics with Kevin including:

• The utility and public utility commission regulatory framework that can make it difficult for utilities to respond quickly to market changes
• EV charging infrastructure, battery storage, vehicle to grid, smart charging, and more are significant opportunities for utilities in the future — which market opportunities are they likely to lead versus follow?
• Supplying power to residential and commercial customers is all about data. How will utilities leverage their existing customer relationships and data analytics to best manage and monetize the expected explosive growth in power demand from EV charging infrastructure.

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Almost half of US households do not have the option to charge at home, making reliable public charging options critical for our electric vehicle future. Today, our existing charging network is unfortunately receiving a failing grade.  We will discuss the new US standards for uptime performance and how the industry can best respond while also delivering to the public an A+ experience.

Co-hosted by Loren McDonald and Brian O'Leary. With featured guest Cory Bullis.

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The EV Revolution: Past, Present, and Future, features guest Chelsea Sexton. Sexton helped launch the EV-1, was a consulting producer for Who Killed the Electric Car, co-founded Plug-In America, and has held several EV consulting and advisory roles. She will help O’Leary and McDonald put the last two and a half decades—and the coming decade—of electric vehicle development into perspective. They’ll explore the excitement of the early 1990s through the launch of the Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt. Sexton will also share her perspective on the state of EV charging infrastructure, what she sees as key for EVs to go mainstream, and if the industry will experience a turning point similar to when Apple launched the iPhone. Less