Mitra EV, or, why your plumber has an electric van
This week's EITP features a startup that's bringing EVs to small and midsize fleets -- and charging, too! Plus, a book recommendation, some plant recommendations, and also, I recommend peace.
This week on Everybody in the Pool
So yes, electric car sales here in the US have hit a bit of a slump (although as gas prices almost certainly keep going up, we’ll see how long that slump lasts). But for businesses that run fleets of any size, electrifying is still the best dollars-and-cents decision.
My guest Galina Russell, co-founder and CEO of Mitra EV, is building for exactly the people who tend to get left out of the shiny future-of-transportation narrative: the plumbers, electricians, restoration crews, local delivery operators, and other small-to-midsize fleets that are constantly driving around our neighborhoods. Incredibly, 99% of registered fleets are exactly these businesses. That means a huge amount of tailpipe pollution is coming from those stop-and-go work trucks in dense communities, not just the big headline fleets. The motivator is simple. Fuel savings (she says 50% to 75% is what they have seen), lower maintenance, and no big upfront capex.
Mitra’s pitch addresses the real barrier to going electric, which is asking fleet owners to become charging experts. Instead, Mitra leases the electric vehicles and makes sure the charging is there when the truck shows up, kind of like buying a laptop that actually comes with the charger. Most vehicles get an installed Level 2 charger for overnight charging at the warehouse, and then Mitra adds a small number of fast chargers on-site in locations where the grid can actually handle it. Better still, those fast chargers can be shared, which means other fleets can pay to use them and the host site gets some of that revenue back. It is “electrify your fleet” as a turnkey service, not a multi-year construction project.
Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts!
Big thoughts
I’m happy to see Paul Krugman and others picking up on the thread that renewable energy is actually national security – you don’t have to fight wars over sunshine and wind. I also appreciate that we’re starting to put this in economic terms. Like this, from this excellent newsletter about the various costs of our fossil fuel economy:
“The United States spends more than $81 billion every single year just to protect the global supply of oil.”
That figure comes from Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), a nonpartisan national security organization led by retired senior military officers. They calculated that about one fifth of the entire Department of Defense base budget exists, at least in part, to keep oil flowing through vulnerable choke points like the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, shipping lanes in the South China Sea.”
Then there’s the $3 trillion we spent on the Iraq war, according to this piece, and the estimated $1b a day we’re spending to apparently release all of the emissions of a massive oil depot in Tehran at the same goddamn time (in addition to the generational poisoning from the toxic fumes).
We have all the money we need for the energy transition. Just as we have all the money we need for healthcare, public education, libraries, scientific research, and hell, even space exploration. Oh, and peace. Also, and most importantly, we have all the money we need for peace.
On that note: The United States military “is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases of any institution on Earth,” reports the BBC, using calculations from researchers at Penn State University. It emits more than Sweden or Portugal – it’s the 47th largest emitter on the planet.
Not only do we not have to fight wars over renewable energy, but stopping fighting wars could also put a massive dent in global warming.
Recommended reading
I’m just going to say now that I loved my conversation with Galina of Mitra EV and I think we are exactly the same kind of nerd. And that’s why I’m recommending a book to you before I’ve even finished it! I’m in the middle of
I’m in the middle of The Grid by Gretchen Bakke, and it’s fascinating in a million ways, not least of which because it’s answering a question that comes up in almost every conversation I have about the energy transition (especially in this moment of talking about VPPs and decentralized power generation and of course adding more and more renewable energy): Cool, ok, but what about the grid?
The grid is the blocker and Bakke explains why. Yes, the aging infrastructure, and that’s like, so for real. But also, the American electrical grid was designed for a one-way system: big centralized power plants push electricity out to passive consumers. Everything about its architecture, its regulation, its economics, and its culture assumes that model. So when you try to introduce distributed generation, variable renewables, demand response, or anything that makes the grid more dynamic and two-directional, you’re not adding new tech to a neutral platform — you’re fighting the fundamental logic the whole system was built on.
She also predicts the decentralization we’re starting to see, which I’m currently obsessed with – microgrids, virtual power plants, and grid-edge assets, and this whole evolution into a world where distributed resources like rooftop solar, batteries, smart thermostats, and EVs could collectively function as flexible generation if the grid were smart enough to coordinate them. (Note: I have an interview coming up with a company that is specifically trying to coordinate that flexibility, so stay tuned.)
One important caveat: This book was published in 2016, before utility-scale battery storage was economically viable and before renewables had their massive cost declines. The whole intro talks about intermittency and storage as pretty much unsolvable, so that feels a little dated, since the tech has leapfrogged forward in that regard (and that’s a hopeful outcome, also). But the structural, economic, and regulatory barriers she describes haven’t really changed. Anyway, it’s a great read for understanding the systems-level scale of the grid problem, and kudos to Gretchen, it’s actually a legitimately interesting read.
Buying advice
If you’re in the market for a car and you just know gas prices aren’t going to come down anytime soon, now is just the absolute perfect time to get yourself … a used EV. There are lots of cars still under warranty for less than $25,000, per the Los Angeles Times, there are finally lots of them for sale, and charging your car overnight with a slower level 2 charger was already cheaper than gas even before countries started blowing up each other’s supply.
Historically, when gas prices go up, people buy smaller cars (which use and emit less gas), and now is an opportunity to get more EVs on the road for the most capitalist reason of all: affordability. Tell your friends.
And just for fun, you know what I’m super into right now? Plants. Houseplants. Houseplants are my new empty-nest obsession and honestly, in terms of stuff to buy when realistically we don’t need to buy anything? Houseplants for the win. My recent favorites include a ponytail palm, a variegated hoya, and a colorful croton plant, and my literal pride and joy, which I fawn over constantly, is a polka-dot begonia (a begonia maculata, to be precise). I got her on discount from an overpriced plant store because she was sick and down to only two leaves and I’ve spent two years nurturing her back to glorious life – and I even propagated a baby begonia! Look, I’m just saying, times are tough. But a plant takes your stress away (and cleans your air, to boot).
