Directly Current: EVs for All America

James Bell is the head of PR and comms for Kia in America, and he's overseen the brand evolve from being a budget/used car alternative into a premium competitor, particularly in the EV space. Hot on the heels of announcing the affordable EV3 for the US, James speaks with Max to discuss how Kia isn't letting up on its EV platforms and strategy despite the doom and gloom of some US market forecas...

Alan Clarke, executive director of Advanced EV Programs at Ford, joins Max to discuss his team's work on the Universal EV Platform—an ambitious plan to make low-cost, next-gen vehicles that make the existing Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning look old-school. Ford's first BEV efforts were well received but had no path to profitability and were simply too expensive for consumers. Now, his t...

Ed Kim joins Max from AutoPacific, where he's the chief analyst, to discuss data and insights he's gotten from working with nearly every major OEM on EVs' near future outlook. The good news? There's lots of work on affordability. Also, Republicans really are warming to EVs, as our own polling also shows. The bad news? The affordable EVs can't come soon enough, as fire sales on existing inventor...

Corey Cantor from the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) joins Max to discuss some positive trends for EVs going into the new year. 2025 was a rough year for EVs with the axing of federal support after Republican-led legislation dropped the $7,500 credit on new vehicles, and sales have shown it. However, automakers are bringing new compelling products out in mainsteam market segmen...

Staff writer for InsideEVs and auto journalist Kevin Williams joins Max to discuss his experiences reporting on and driving Chinese EVs. How compelling are they in 2026 and how do they stack up to Western automakers? What does he make of Canada's new policy to lift tariffs on them and allow Chinese cars into their market? Max and Kevin go over The tech going into new EVs from Xiaomi, XPENG, G...

Veteran political guru and pollster behind EVs for All America, Mike Murphy, joins Max to chat about his scheming with Governor Newsom for a new California EV tax credit that could fit into the state budget. He also shares a new batch of polling we've conducted at EVs for All America, highlighting several interesting demographic shifts for EVs going into 2026; including a shrinking partisan gap...

Executive director of EVs for All America, Dan Krassner, joins Max to discuss the work that our team has been doing on local advocacy in California to make installing charging in apartments and multifamily units a lot easier. Californian apartment dwellers make up more than the population of at least 30 US states, and they'd be a huge get for EV ownership if the lower costs and home charging co...

Ex-SpaceX engineer and founder Quincy joins Max once more to talk EV charging with his company Electric Era's new launch, RetailEdge. It's a sleek unit that uses AI and a friendly interface to make charging easier while allowing retailers who host charging sites to get customers in the door of their establishment and spending money. ▶️ Watch the episode: YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@Direc...

PSE&G is New Jersey's largest utility and is over a century old, but under Dawn Neville's team they're doing an agile and decent job of adapting to EVs with programs that subsidize home charging and forecast load for necessary grid uprades. Max speaks with Dawn to learn more about the challenges a utility faces with EVs, as well as some of the opportunities that come about from peak shaving and...

John Voelcker has been reporting on EVs and hybrids for longer than almost anyone. The editor in chief of Green Car Reports for almost a decade, and now a frequent freelancer for magazines like Car and Driver and websites like InsideEVs, John is an engineer by training who has reported on major developments like General Motor's turnaround on producing batteries as well as the formation of the I...

It's time for a news roundup on Directly Current, and Max is joined by Republican strategist and EVs for All America boss Mike Murphy to discuss the positive market developments in German and American EV manufacturing, as well as some bad news with an ICE raid at Hyundai and LG Energy Solutions' battery plant in Georgia which went about as well as an episode of Keystone Cops. Max and Mike go o...

Veloz is a nonprofit leading the charge with a national messaging campaign to sell the public on EVs—not for environmental advocacy but for practical cost of ownership and tangible benefits. Josh Boone, their executive director, joins Max for a chat on their new Electric for All campaign we've partnered with them on—featuring the iconic voice of Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreatio...

Our Next Energy (ONE) is developing LFP battery cells in Michigan. If you're an EV nerd, you know how big of a deal that is. These kinds of chemistries are what are going to enable durable, long lasting, and most importantly, affordable EVs and China already specializes in them and currently basically chokes the world's supply, not just in terms of minerals, but also IP know-how and manufacturi...

You've probably heard that the electric grid is under severe strain and that electric cars are of no help. And this is in some ways a little bit overblown, but it's also true, particularly in the era of large data centers and AI. But it doesn't have to be that way. Electric vehicles can be part of the solution. We've spoken on this show briefly before about concepts like vehicle to grid and ve...

One of the biggest sources of electrification isn't your home or your neighbors', but the commercial fleets and trucks that power American business. Wex is a company doing fuel card services, but their EV charging solutions have taken off and they're continuing to invest in it despite federal headwinds. In this episode of Directly Current, host Max Patten speaks to Libby Bittman, the Business ...

Max speaks to Quincy Lee, founder and CEO of Electric Era, a charging business that's integrating high-quality hardware with smart software and batteries to deploy rapidly at retailers like Costco for low cost. It's a story of entrepreneurship, quality-obsession, and paving the infrastructure for the future. Electric Era's Site (https://electricera.tech) Quincy's Twitter (https://x.com/QuincyE...

Electric towing is hard, particularly when you're hauling a big family-sized camper that can halve a Rivian's range. Lightship is a startup that's laser-focused on solving that pickle by engineering a smart trailer that not only makes itself more aerodynamic in motion, but also pulls its own weight with an e-axle and independent battery system. It's a clever piece of tech but it also costs a pr...

Long before the Tesla Roadster or GM EV.1 were a twinkle in engineers' eyes, there were people hard at work making whacky electric cars in their garages. Declan Kavanaugh, a college student and budding engineer interning at startup Telo Trucks, is one such enthusiast, taking pride in buying cheap EV curiosity projects from the 1970s and restoring them with modern-day battery technology and upgr...

Harbinger Motors is making medium-duty electric trucks in America, which believe it or not, almost no one else is. While Rivian, GM, Ford, and Daimler have rolled out light duty vans for deliveries, John Harris wants to make chassis for vehicles with higher gross vehicle weight ratings for delivery customers with those needs. Of course, we talk tariffs—an ongoing and changing development for th...

Andrew Lambrecht owns a Tesla Model 3, freelance writes for several EV publications, and is a graduating engineering student who's interned at startups like Lucid Motors. Max speaks to him to get a sense of where Tesla lies as a company in 2025 amidst a chaotic and unpredictable CEO, global headwinds, an aging product lineup, and revolt among some of its most formerly loyal customers. While we...

Max, Mike, Joe, and Sarah from the EV Politics team break down the goings-on at the EV Charging Summit and Expo live from Las Vegas. They also react in real time to the 25% imported car tariff. Special guest star Tom Moloughney! Subscribe to Directly Current (https://audioboom.com/channels/5137915-directly-current-the-ev-politics-podcast) Learn More About the American EV Jobs Alliance (https...

EV charging is a hard business, and it's only gotten tougher with the federal axing of incentive programs like NEVI. But Rohan Puri, CEO and co-founder of Stable, thinks there's a way to make it sustainable in the long term. His company uses data analytics so that site hosts can have happy accounts and keep deploying electrons to a growing population of EV drivers. Check out Stable's Site and ...

Max speaks with Mike Colias, WSJ autos reporter and author of "Inevitable: Inside The Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles" about his just-published book and the stories of American innovation and manufacturing he encountered along the way, from the booming low-interest early 2020s to the messy reality of today's EV transition amidst a hostile Trump administration. Order Mike's B...

Tom Moloughney—who hosts State of Charge on YouTube, maintains an EV charging news site, and cohosts the Batteries Included Podcast—is the go-to guru for EV charging. He's covered EVs since the BMW Mini E program in the late 2000s. Max speaks with him on developments in DC fast charging as well as how normal people can know how to pick a good "Level 2" charger for their home. Subscribe to Stat...

Ro Khanna is the Democratic House representative of CA-17, better known as Silicon Valley. He's a popular progressive candidate, serving his fourth term, but he's also moderate and pro-business. He wrote a book on American entrepreneurship and manufacturing, has taught at Stanford, and been close with tech leaders like Elon Musk. Max speaks with the vocal and talented Congressman to get an idea...

EVs may be on a mission to save the planet, but they could also save some of our country’s most frequent drivers by being much cheaper to run. Matthew Metz, founder of data and policy firm Coltura, joins the show to talk how gasoline superusers can save on EVs and give Max some legislative and political insights into how battles over electric car policy at the state level might play out. Calcu...

Max goes over how to bargain hunt for a new, or used, or even leased EV with the looming death of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean vehicle tax credit. Eligible New Cars (https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax2023.shtml) Eligible Old Cars (https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxused.shtml) Learn More About the American EV Jobs Alliance (https://evpolitics.org)

Happy post-Thanksgiving season! Max sits down with Doron Myersdorf, CEO of Israeli battery startup StoreDot, to talk battery technology and what the US can learn from the rest of the world when it comes to industrial policy. Subscribe to Directly Current (https://audioboom.com/channels/5137915-directly-current-the-ev-politics-podcast) Learn More about The American EV Jobs Alliance (https://evp...

Max picks the brain of White House and Tesla alum Rohan Patel, who pivoted from advising Obama on climate policy to working at the world's leading EV player for eight years making pivotal business and policy decisions. With the state of the Inflation Reduction Act in question given a new administration and Republican control of Congress, what does Rohan think of the US' current place in the ra...

Max is joined by Mike Murphy as well as Executive Editor of Automotive News, Jamie Butters, to talk EVs in the wake of a big Election night for Republicans across the board. Trump and Elon's alliance looms large, as do headwinds for EVs in the US amidst the march of ever more available and cheaper vehicles. It's not all doom and gloom, we promise! Listen to The Daily Drive Podcast (https://www...

Max speaks to John Heilemann, journalist with Puck News and analyst with NBC to discuss how the candidates are treating (or not treating) EVs in the final sprint to election day, and WTF is going on with Elon Musk and Trump. Listen to John's Podcast at Puck (https://puck.news/podcasts/impolitic/) Find out more about the American EV Jobs Alliance (https://www.evpolitics.org)

There’s no question when it comes to selling EVs in the US, or making a profit on them, Tesla is king. But between an erratic CEO, public scrutiny over delay after delay on self driving promises, and signs of flagging demand in key markets like California, there’s some reason to have doubts. Nonetheless, their recent Q3 results exceeded expectations and saw an ambitious growth forecast. To brea...

Max speaks with Secretary of the DOT, former South Bend Mayor, and 2020 Demoratic primary candidate Pete Buttigieg to talk EVs, jobs in the USA, and improving infrastructure with NEVI. Spoiler: his office doesn’t think every American needs to get an EV tomorrow, but he wants to set the US up for success in the global stage so that we don't fall behind. Learn More About The American EV Jobs All...

EVs and Chinas have become intertwined, mostly because China has developed an unassailable lead in making the most important, and most expensive component of any electric car. They aren’t just a political target just of Donald Trump, who led the charge on an all-out trade war in his first term in office. The current Biden administration is imposing a 25% tarriff on any vehicle with a Chinese ba...

Max speaks to Elena Ciccotelli of the EVs 4 Everyone Podcast to get some insights on the industry and how EVs are being sold, as well as break down some of the more common social media misconceptions that is virally spread about them. EVs 4 Everyone: https://evs4everyone.com Learn More About The American EV Jobs Alliance: https://www.evpolitics.org/

The show returns with a headline guest! Political guru and Obama shaman David Axelrod joins Directly Current to weigh in electric vehicle's polarized politics and Max helps recommend him a suitable EV — that isn't a Tesla! Learn More About EV Politics and the American EV Jobs Alliance: https://evpolitics.org Email Us For Feedback! - Max.Patten@colorado.edu

Max sits down for a nerdy chat with young engineer and Clemson student Andrew Lambrecht, who's already making waves in the EV industry hot off the heels of a summer internship at Lucid and freelance writing extensively on EV bargains and market watch for outlets like Business Insider and InsideEVs. Let's learn how EVs are truly better from a technological point of view and why young talented pe...

EVs need DC fast charging to work for long highway trips, but retailers and merchants need to know it's worth their time and energy to install them. In this episode Max sits down with Karl Doenges, EV charging liaison at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), and John Eichberger, who works for their Transportation Energy Institute (TEI), to understand how fuel retailers can play...

In the first episode of Directly Current, Max sits down with venerable Republican political strategist Mike Murphy, who's worked on many high-profile campaigns since the Reagan days, to discuss why conservatives dislike EVs and what the national climate for them looks like in the US amidst a turbulent election year. Learn More About EV Politics and EV Jobs For America: https://www.evpolitics.org

Welcome to the EV Politics podcast, Directly Current.