Start-Up Wants to Electrify & Solar-ize You | iDSC023

Lifestyle EV Broker Start-Up Wants to Electrify & Solar-ize You Hollywood producer/director, David Eagle, became so passionate about electric vehicles and solar power that he's packaged the two technologies together and is offering them in a unique concierge service. With the help of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator he and his team want to deliver an electric-solar lifestyle solution customized just for you. ***Transcript*** Recording date – January 10, 2018 David Eagle: We are the world's first electric vehicle plug-in hybrid and hybrid licensed auto broker/concierge service. We go far beyond just dealing with cars with our clients the HOV stickers, the Clean Air Vehicle rebate that California provides to any type of a plug-in vehicle whether it's a plug-in hybrid or an all-electric. We also provide chargers and the installation of chargers if they want that in their garage or in their office. We're charging several electric cars day and night. I'm running a 3800 square foot house, and I don't pay anything for electricity. In the summer, it's negative. It's in the negative numbers. In the winter, the bill ends up being in the positive numbers but because I built up the credits, I don't pay for it. That's why we call that the total EV lifestyle experience. It's a great thing. I mean never having to put gas in your car, charging it using the sun, no pollution whatsoever. Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. I'm Tom Smith. And joining me today is David Eagle of Current EV. David is the founder and CEO of Current EV, which is a portfolio company of the L.A. Cleantech Incubator. David, thank you so much for joining me today. David Eagle: Thank you, Tom for having me. Tom Smith: So high level tell me what is Current EV? David Eagle: We are the world's first and as far as I know only electric vehicle plug-in hybrid and hybrid licensed auto broker/concierge service. Say that three times fast. Tom Smith: Rolls off the tip of your tongue. So I get the licensed auto broker part, but what do you mean by concierge service? David Eagle: Well, we go far beyond just dealing with cars with our clients, so electric cars come with all sorts of other bits and pieces for, for example, the HOV stickers that you can get for them. Often dealers don't know about them or if they do know about them, they don't know how to get them. The consumers are stuck on their own. We help people get them. We can actually handle the paperwork for them. Same thing with the state rebate, the Clean Air Vehicle rebate that California provides to any type of a plugin vehicle whether it's a plug-in hybrid or an all-electric. We help them with that. If they're purchasing the car, and they're not sure how to get their $7500 or up to $7500 federal tax credit, we help them with that as well. We also provide chargers and the installation of chargers if they want that in their garage or in their office. And we also have a referral to a sister company here at LACI called Pick My Solar for those people who want what we call the complete EV lifestyle experience if they'd like to add solar power to that. Tom Smith: If I want to lessen my carbon footprint exponentially and go completely electric, you guys can help in all the very various capacities… David Eagle: We can handle the whole thing or bits and pieces of it. Tom Smith: All right. Where did the idea come from? You're the founder CEO, so I'm assuming it's your brainchild but tell me about the beginnings. David Eagle: Well, going back to 2011 when the Nissan Leaf was…actually 2010 when it was coming out, it had not come out yet. I was one of those people like the Tesla 3 model people now that are putting their thousand dolla...