E-Signatures OK For Car Deals, Charge Companies Need A Boost, EV Credits Piling Up

Paul Daly: 0:31gets burnout tires ready folks slide in last day of August kiss the summer goodbye today we're talking about E signatures for car deals. Charge companies needing a boost and Evie credits piling up. Heard about Evie credits wants her to

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:50

credit people that like they got money guns and they're like, ready ready?

Paul Daly: 0:56

You ever worried? Sometimes when we come into the show hot I get a little worried that it might be a bit much for people who are just waiting. Right? Sometimes I feel like man

Kyle Mountsier: 1:08

like these guys just started talking so fast. Maybe a bit much

Paul Daly: 1:13

maybe I got that feeling after I gave all the energy but the truth is, you and I are kind of early riser so at this point, we probably record the show usually record it and go live stream sometime between 845 and nine ish. We've been up for like four or five hours just Oh yeah. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 1:32

this is this is our for for me. I'm like looking at my my watch right now. And I got all the stand hours already ready to go.

Paul Daly: 1:39

Can you imagine that? That for a lot of people probably nobody really in the auto industry. But we'd be like two thirds of the way through our workday. Right.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:46

Oh, it's unbelievable. Yeah. Oh, it's you know, hey, I welcome back to Adrienne wall Gibbs out there. She's back. She was she was crushing some work game hard the last few days. I think I think she's on the the Gulf Coast. So shout out to all the people that went through a little hurricane. Seems like the majority of the damage is is a street sweep up and stuff like that some power outages. So we've got actually some team members on the asoto crew out there. Just want to recognize like, hey, it's never easy when weather comes through. You got your back.

Paul Daly: 2:17

We got your back, let us know. Let us know what you need. Don't say, hey, like, in now it is I guess four weeks from today. We will be having our little coffee social. The last the morning. Everyone's leaving at a soda con. Talking about when it's over Paul. I know we haven't done it yet. Look, we are we just published the full mainstage agenda for day one. And if you go to a soda con.com forward slash agenda, you can see what's out. We're uploading things to this on a regular basis now. So it's going to be updated more and more over the next several days as we've been really carefully like two chefs in the kitchen mixing ingredients to give you some dishes you've never seen or heard before. But you're gonna love with the different speakers. So let's talk about this main stage because the format is main stage in the morning breakouts mid day, main stage at the end of the day, and that's going to be the agenda for both days. So first day, main stage. Let's just talk about what's going on.

Kyle Mountsier: 3:20

Ah man so we're kicking off the day with Dr. Nicole Lipkin.

Paul Daly: 3:24

We're kicking off today with a hot breakfast let's just put that out there.

Kyle Mountsier: 3:27

Amen. I'm so glad you brought that

Paul Daly: 3:29

up and then we are recording this show live

Kyle Mountsier: 3:35

live on the stage. That's right. Yeah, we're recording live it'll be on the main stage during breakfast you can you know this just kind of like some energy to pop start your day. You know, we'll have the well we'll drop the beat the whole nine yards. Dr. Nicole Lipkin right after we say a few words, because you know we got to get ours and Dr. Nicole Lipkin is just going to set the stage her poise her and she's got this I read the the description brand new keynote from Dr. I was reading the description I was on with one of our teammates charity yesterday. I was like reading through it. I was like, Man, I can't even work on my description writing game. She's kind of awesome. She's awesome. We're going to talk about the future state of the union with Mike Stanton lies Borgias deep green field.

Paul Daly: 4:18

Let's talk about Mike Stan, president of nada Liza Boresha, CEO of Carter Myers, automotive 23 store group that will knock your socks off Steve Greenfield who is everywhere in automotive, lead all three of those ingredients on the stage at one time to kick it off talking about not where we are. Everyone's talking about that. Talking about where we're going to be from the practitioners, man, what's next? Okay, so that's the morning so that the morning and then we go to breakouts, and we go to the trade show floor and then we have Taco Tuesday for lunch, right and Swag Shop is open, and you're recharged on podcast stage. Everything's rockin throughout the day. Then we come back to the main stage.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:53

And this is the scheduling. We talked about the fact that there's literally going to be podcasts going on all day in the life Hall lot Get in the expo hall.

Unknown: 5:03

Then we're back.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:04

Oh, we get to talk to Darren Doan, who is just a prolific producer. He's got a new show on amazon prime with John Sacco who is in the recycled metals industry. And it's called, if you haven't, if you haven't checked it out, go check out repurpose on Amazon Prime. I think there's two or three episodes up there right now. And it's there. We're talking all about how to elevate an industry and show a different side of an industry, which is something that so many people and us included are working to do in the automotive side. So just seeing other people doing similar things going. I see that

Paul Daly: 5:40

is going to it's going to be inspiring. Yeah, absolutely awesome.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:43

We'll get to see some hot clips from it too, and then makes a lot of sense about what will we do next,

Paul Daly: 5:49

we're rolling back or rolling next into our effort to elevate the perception of the entire industry by releasing and premiering episode three of more than cars, which was filmed a few weeks ago in Buffalo, New York at the West, her group, you know them, they're, like, pretty close to the tippy top of the top 150 auto dealers. And we're gonna have we're gonna premiere that episode. And we're also bringing up Martin shorts, who is the CEO of Vehicles for Change, who is the charity, we're representing the right there near Baltimore, but they have a national presence. They're recruiting and training and placing technicians who have been formerly incarcerated with like, 100%.

Kyle Mountsier: 6:28

Success. It's unbelievable.

Paul Daly: 6:31

He's like, 100% placement success, it's well, and

Kyle Mountsier: 6:34

why wouldn't you if you're retraining and recruiting technicians, it's like you

Paul Daly: 6:38

get an ASE Certified tech who's got something to work for, he's got something to prove, and they have something to believe in. So look at that's just the main stage, just one day. Like, wait to hear about the mainstage for dates. And so look, go to a soda con.com right now to book your tickets, especially if your deal our industry partner, tickets are just about gone. The only way you'll be able to go as an industry partner is if you sponsor the event, we still have a lot, a lot of different things are available. If you're interested in that, just hit us up, DM us, send us an email, Paul or kyle@asoto.com. And we'll make sure you get connected but if you're a dealer, you really need to be there and learning from the other practitioners and tickets are still $100 off today's the last day their $100 off tomorrow, their full price we've been counting down. So let's do that. Hey, I'm just looking in the comments. And everyone's talking, talking about some stuff. Ashley Edmondson, I want to put you up there Good morning from Team soft space. Sauce space is actually our partner who's going to be setting up the trade show floor, all the booths are going to be very uniform and beautiful. We're trying to create an amazing tradeshow experience for you. So it just feels good and engaging and it takes a lot of people to do that thanks to our friends at sauce space for helping us make that happen. While the longest we've gone ever without talking about it. Let's talk about some news. Hey, we're getting to it here. I know I know. So after this a big one after facing a suspension for their dealer of their dealer license earlier this year. You've heard the story Carvana has successfully promoted legislation in Illinois that now will allow home delivery and online sales procedures that include this is the biggest part E signatures no more wet signature required. It was passed unanimously in the Illinois State and Senate in March and then the represent house representatives in May and now it was just signed into law it's going to take effect January 1 2024. So we're just a few months away it specifies that dealers can deliver vehicles to a customer's residence if they requested in writing easy and the date of the sale is now considered to be when the vehicle buyer signs the application for the title and then of course gotta get those these signatures I think this is a great thing for everybody

Kyle Mountsier: 8:43

no this is this is universal it's you know Carvanha is a dealer and but this this helps dealers I'm kudos to Illinois for getting getting in there early and making e signatures a legitimate way to sign documents across the state for all title applications or title purposes. Like that just frees up everybody to be able to do better retailing for customers. So hey, thanks to Carl you know, a lot of people throw shade at Carvana but thanks to Carvana their behemoth that allows the industry to move faster there's a lot of people that have looked to them to build their processes to build their online reputation right online stores and now they're now they're legitimizing it with with helping pass legislation and pushing that through let's go Illinois dealers get your get your online presence in order do it

Paul Daly: 9:30

you got to do it. Thanks speaking

Kyle Mountsier: 9:33

you tried you were i did i

Paul Daly: 9:35

just speaking and it just told me to stop so we're gonna go we're gonna talk about a couple Evie stories so Evie charging networks charge point and blink to the biggest are facing some significant financial difficulties. With less than a year of cash left as automakers frustrated with poor charger reliability and slow rollout have just started creating their own networks and have been joining forces with Tesla if you haven't heard both ChargePoint and blinker experiencing cash Burn due to the operating losses and the slowdown, because here's the rub. Their models are significantly built around selling the charging equipment and show the business lack of use, you know, lack of reliability have led to like very low revenue, to support the company for all this equipment that is out there. And obviously, you know, other OEMs, and people trying to get their own networks is going to slow down equipment sales, because other people are doing their own things. I smell some partnerships or acquisitions, maybe on the horizon. So basically, here's a quote from an analyst at guidehouse. He says it's kind of a perfect storm for charging network companies, they're facing new competition, their customers are not happy, they need to spend money, but they can't get the money. So it's kind of worst of all worlds for them. And after you have some commentary on this kind of a personal story,

Kyle Mountsier: 10:50

well, it's wild because you know, back in, let's call it 10 years ago, charge point and blink were really the only options. You know, if you wanted to charge any of your EVs that were non Tesla's, it was just the only way to go you like when we had a leaf back in the day, I just had both apps had a payment option on both. And it's just I that was the only thing you could find. But now, all of these broader charging networks. And the biggest thing is these OEMs leaning into the Tesla charging network is dangerous for these for these other private companies that are that are looking to keep market share, because tape is just going to be able to move faster further. And the OEMs are going to lean into that with their financing. So yeah, it's, it's a weird thing. Now, I would hate for any of these to like, go bankrupt, and all of a sudden not be able to use all those charging dead charging sticks

Paul Daly: 11:39

all over the place that I can't see that happening, somebody's going to without the burden of having to get the equipment in place. Like I think someone could come in other kinds of answers that make a little better. Well, let me let me tell you a little personal story. So our studio here in Syracuse is new. It was the property I redeveloped. And we put an Evie charger out front. Because how I got to do my part was that one in this neighborhood, not anywhere close, you got to go downtown to get a charger. So I was like, let's put one out front of the building, which is cool, because I can see it from my window. And I watch everybody like surrounding it, like a monkey that doesn't understand something like look at it and they poke at it. Some people eat a sandwich from the pizza place and they watch it. It's with EV Connect is the network that this is a part of. And I just got my annual like, Bill, right, this is what it costs to be part of the network. It's like 550 bucks, and they want to raise it to like 600 something dollars, want me to tell you my total charging revenue to date in 2023 $83

Kyle Mountsier: 12:41

and close four cents close

Paul Daly: 12:43

$130 Well, which also doesn't account for whatever the electric costs to deliver that oh my goodness. So you're probably actually pretty right around $80 You're probably right on the money. And so obviously, I was like we're gonna pay the bill, we're gonna keep it going another year, but maybe, you know, and then we're gonna put some more Starbucks and stuff in. So maybe it'll help but it's a tough go from a business proposition. Like you don't

Kyle Mountsier: 13:08

have like a business where customers are staying and setting up and a large purchase network in your region. You know, it's a

Paul Daly: 13:16

challenge. Somebody from there's some apartments like an old like Catholic school was turned into luxury apartments and somebody actually walked over with a Tesla. They walked over to the agency, and they were like, is that charger? Reliable? Literally, that was their question. Because they're considering moving there. And they wanted to know there were somewhere reliable close by where they could charge their vehicle because you can't charge it from the apartment complex. So I feel like I'm kind of in the middle of all the questions right you're almost there. You're on I'm on the wrong end of the charging thing.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:48

Have enough people in an area buying EVs that sounds

Paul Daly: 13:52

way better than mine. At least it made sense to

Kyle Mountsier: 13:56

miss the struggling demand. There are new Eevee credits piling on in the state of Colorado. With the launch of what they're calling the vehicle exchange Colorado program. This product program offers a $6,000 rebate for residents who swapped their old gas guzzlers for new or used electric vehicles. It's a move designed to drive the uptake of electric vehicle purchases and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in the state. The state has a goal of achieving 940,000 electric cars on the road by 2030

Paul Daly: 14:31

they have right now

Kyle Mountsier: 14:31

how many 93,090 Oh yeah 91/10

Paul Daly: 14:38

So they gotta they gotta get Grant Cardone is up in here 10x In this thing

Kyle Mountsier: 14:43

connection seven years come on, if you can't do Okay, so here's here's the wild stuff about a couple about the eligibility. The residents must have a household income, below 80% of the area's median income and the vehicle being turned on must be at least 12 years old. The trade in vehicle or turn in vehicle must be 12 years old or fail emissions test but still operational. How is Kitt? How many people like what's the volume of people that can afford the new Evie, but still have the 80% car household income and a 12 year old car that failed?

Paul Daly: 15:25

I mean, we said the number was like $100,000 for a family of four. It's in Boulder, Colorado was like where they were okay.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:31

Voters like Yeah, I mean, bullets. Typically.

Paul Daly: 15:34

I mean, you know, I think the real story is that this is another pile of money. You're throwing at an Eevee. So if you think about if you are eligible, and with affordability being such an issue in Colorado, obviously, we have the federal credit 7300 or 7500, we have this new credit of 6000. And by the way, the car's to be under 50 grand, but if it's under 50 grand after all other credits, right, right, you get the six grand, and there's another credit I saw and I looked it up, which is from the power company, it's called Xcel Energy, and if you're an Xcel Energy customer and you meet these criteria, you get another $5,500 Dude, that's 19 grand 10 grand. Yeah. So I looked, I was like, Okay, what's like, what's it inexpensive? And Id for base model? $39,000. So you could get 19 grand off a$39,000 vehicle that's just about half off. So you're driving out okay. 20 grand now,

Kyle Mountsier: 16:28

you so now that median household income can definitely afford that, Ev.

Paul Daly: 16:33

There we go. I think that'll help the numbers.

Kyle Mountsier: 16:35

I think it should give a little bump. That's good. Good on them for doing

Paul Daly: 16:39

something I guess. I mean, this is one of the conversations that's been happening a lot saying, hey, if there's a lot of inventory, and we're trying to push demand, we're gonna see a boatload of incentives is the only way you can move this inventory.

Kyle Mountsier: 16:50

I mean, think think back to 10,000 off trucks back in the day, we're talking$19,000 in rebates, not from the manufacturer, but from public and private companies.

Paul Daly: 17:01

So now instead of I guess we say 10,000 on the hood, it's going to be 10,000 in the frunk. We hope you have an amazing day. To your August please go to a soda con.com Check out the speakers the agenda, buy a ticket. We hope you can join us in less than four weeks.

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