34 - Leasing Pre-Owned EVs: Octopus Energy’s Innovative Solution for Free Home Charging in Texas

Follow our EV channel: https://igteev.buzzsprout.com/

In this episode of Insider’s Guide to Energy EV, hosts Chris Sass and Niall Riddell dive into the world of electric vehicle leasing with special guests Nathan Wyeth and Chris George from Octopus Energy’s US team. They explore Octopus Energy’s innovative EV leasing program, which offers drivers in Texas the unique benefit of free home charging for the duration of their lease. By bundling electric vehicle leases with clean energy plans, Octopus is simplifying the switch to electric cars, helping consumers save money and reduce emissions. 

Nathan and Chris discuss the advantages of leasing pre-owned electric vehicles, which not only come with cost savings of up to $7,000 but also feature cutting-edge technology. They explain how Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus platform optimizes charging times based on energy pricing, ensuring that drivers get the lowest rates while using renewable wind power. Whether you’re commuting in Houston or taking road trips across Texas, this leasing model makes EV adoption easier and more affordable than ever. 

Listeners will also hear about Octopus Energy’s future plans to expand its Electroverse public charging app into the U.S., and how their vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology could further reduce costs for EV owners. Tune in to discover how Octopus Energy is transforming the EV landscape and making clean, cost-effective transportation accessible to all. 

We were pleased to host:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanwyeth/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cscottgeorge/ 

Visit our website: https://insidersguidetoenergy.com/ 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:09 Octopus Energy and EV Bundling
• 6:34 Pre-Owned EV Leasing
• 9:25 Consumer Education and EV Savings
• 16:09 Electroverse: Public Charging Innovation
• 20:04 Future of EVs: Vehicle-to-Grid
• 25:45 Customer Engagement: How Octopus Connects
• 30:57 Closing Remarks and Summary

Transcript

Transcript 

00:00:00 Nathan Wyeth 

So millions of Americans are asking themselves today is an electric car right for them? Can it work for them and all the driving that they do? 

00:00:08 Nathan Wyeth 

Octopus electric vehicles provides a new package to bring you a lower cost electric car bundled with the charging and all of the maintenance so that you have an all in monthly payment for that's going to be lower than what you pay today and it's going to get you everywhere you need to go. 

00:00:25 Chris Sass 

Your trusted source for information on the energy transition. This is the insiders guide to Energy podcast. 

00:00:37 Chris Sass 

Welcome to another edition of the Insiders Guide to Energy EV, Neil. We've got a great episode. We're talking vehicles today. We're talking to octopus energy again, but we're talking to their vehicle group. What are you expecting to happen in this episode? 

00:00:50 Niall Riddell 

I'm not sure Chris, cause I'm very familiar with what Optus electric vehicles do here in the UK and my questions are probably gonna be aligned to what are they learning in the US? Why is the US different and really getting that under the skin of that difference between the transition in different countries? 

00:01:04 Chris Sass 

Out. 

00:01:04 Chris Sass 

I I I have a US focus these days. I I'm looking to hear what's happening in the US. I just came from RE plus where we had a lot of charging conversation, a lot going on in the industry. It's pretty exciting times but rather than you and I going back and forth, why don't you bring our guests on and let's kick this off. 

00:01:18 Niall Riddell 

Yeah. So we got our Nathan and Chris today with us from the US Octopus Electric vehicles team. Hey, guys, why don't you give us a short intro and? 

00:01:26 Niall Riddell 

Tell us what you guys are up to. 

00:01:28 Chris George 

Yeah, Chris George's Co lead for the US octopus electric vehicles business. 

00:01:34 Nathan Wyeth 

I'm Nathan Wyeth Co lead here in the US. I've been working in distributed energy for a decade now, across solar batteries, virtual power plants, and now bringing electric vehicles to driveways and garages of Houstonians. 

00:01:48 Niall Riddell 

And and for me, this is the fabulous juncture between energy or electricity supply and vehicles. We've got this crazy scenario where we're putting electricity in vehicles and all of a sudden there's an opportunity for an energy company to play a role in the vehicle world. 

00:02:03 Niall Riddell 

How much are you learning from your UK colleagues and how much of this is new territory that you're exploring? 

00:02:09 Nathan Wyeth 

Well, I think you've found in on one of the things that makes Octopus electric vehicles and the product we have in Texas exciting. Texas is unique in the United States in that its electricity market is fully competitive. 

00:02:23 Nathan Wyeth 

As you see, in Europe and. 

00:02:24 Nathan Wyeth 

UK and so Octopus Energy has a presence and we have some of the most innovative electricity plans for Texans available and we have taken that even further with our electric car lease product. We'll talk about the different ways that this product is unique, but one of the big ones is that. 

00:02:45 Nathan Wyeth 

When you get a car from octopus and you get your electricity plan from octopus, you actually get free home charging for the duration of your lease. So if you if you can imagine how the what the reaction would be if you walked up to a car dealer and said, hey, I'd like a a four year lease and can you throw in free fuel. 

00:03:05 Nathan Wyeth 

You know you, you get laughed out of the place and that's that's part of our product from day one bringing together the energy and the car in a whole new way. 

00:03:16 Niall Riddell 

That's awesome. Basically, you've just basically said you can drive for free. Are there any caveats? Do you have to have solar? Do you have to be in a certain location at the limits on miles, or can I drive as far as I? 

00:03:28 Nathan Wyeth 

Want as much as I want? You can drive as far as you want, as much as you want. 

00:03:31 Nathan Wyeth 

You can charge whenever you want. The one piece that that brings it all together is that we you get free charging when you enroll in the octopus energy EV driver rate, which is called intelligent octopus. And that means that you use an app to tell us when you want your card. 

00:03:51 Nathan Wyeth 

Charged in the morning or whatever time of day you plug it in, you let the Octopus platform do the work and we charge the car when energy is cheapest and cleanest. 

00:04:02 Nathan Wyeth 

So because we can manage that side of it and charge your car overnight with, for example, really inexpensive clean wind power from West TX, that allows us to extend this offer to you where for the duration of the lease you get free. 

00:04:19 Nathan Wyeth 

Free home charging. 

00:04:20 Niall Riddell 

And to be quite frank, the UK based intelligent octopus solution is a very attractive commercial proposition. 

00:04:27 Niall Riddell 

This bundles up into something that consumers must be falling over to get their hands on. Is that a fair? 

00:04:33 Nathan Wyeth 

Statement. Well, so in both the UK and the US, we've been experimenting with how to bring this offer into the into the the our lease products and special offers or or. 

00:04:47 Nathan Wyeth 

Offers that are available all the time, and I think for when someone's purchasing a car, their first choice, their first consideration is going to be the practical aspect. 

00:04:58 Nathan Wyeth 

Effects of is this going to carry all the people and things I need as it the look that I want but also as people educate themselves about charging, they see this offer and it's it's a really exciting thing that is unique to octopus. So we think it pulls people in once they're dialed into the equation of. 

00:05:18 Nathan Wyeth 

You know, I think I think an electric car could work for me, and now I'm figuring out what's the best way to get one. 

00:05:24 Chris Sass 

So if I don't own my home and I live in multifamily, how do I take advantage of your offer? If I'm really excited about driving and leasing a car and getting my power from you, can I do that? 

00:05:34 Nathan Wyeth 

So, unfortunately, Octopus energy serves residential customers, so you may not be able to take advantage of the free charging in that case, but the good news. 

00:05:44 Nathan Wyeth 

There's there's a growing number of multifamily homes and and and apartment complexes in Houston and across Texas in the country where they've proactively installed charging in the parking area. And so we've got customers in that exact situation. In that case, they are. 

00:06:05 Nathan Wyeth 

They may be getting free charging from their building. They may be on a on a plan to pay for it, but they also get the other benefits of the Octopus Electric vehicles lease, which I'm excited to also get into those aspects. It it it's a we lease pre-owned electric cars. So it's a lower cost. 

00:06:22 Nathan Wyeth 

We include included extended warranty and we include all the maintenance among other things. So you're still getting a great package that's going to look different than what you'd get if you walked up to a car dealer. 

00:06:34 Chris Sass 

And then pre owned cars, I mean, are the leases more expensive because perceptively if you were to lease an older car that's based on the residual value of the vehicle and and it's just finance, how does it compare to leasing? 

00:06:48 Chris Sass 

A new car. 

00:06:49 Nathan Wyeth 

So we're typically able to save customers between 3 and $7000 over the course of a a 36 month lease that we use as a as an example. 

00:07:00 Nathan Wyeth 

And that's because you're right that it's all about the the math of depreciation and residual values. But as cars get older, the that residual or the depreciation curve changes a bit. And so because we're starting with a car that's a lower cost to begin with. 

00:07:20 Nathan Wyeth 

It's still in great condition. Typically has one or two or three. It's one or two or three model years old may have 10 or 2030 thousand miles, but it's in great condition, but it's a lower cost car to begin with. There's less car to finance and to appreciate. 

00:07:37 Nathan Wyeth 

Over the course of. 

00:07:38 Niall Riddell 

That lease and then you become dependent on the supply of second hand vehicles. Where's the second hand? Electric vehicle market reached in the US? Is it giving you sufficient supply to offer this to consumers? 

00:07:49 Nathan Wyeth 

We've got. There's about a million plus electric cars being sold each year in the US Now, and so it's that supply is growing every year. 

00:07:59 Nathan Wyeth 

If we're looking at 2021-2022 model year vehicles, there are hundreds of thousands of that have been produced and sold, and we're starting to see those show up in great growing numbers. 

00:08:12 Niall Riddell 

So you can't always get the latest, but you got plenty of supply from those you know. Low mileage, couple of years old, well looked after. 

00:08:18 Niall Riddell 

Second, hand vehicles into a lease bundled with energy. What else can you do? 

00:08:23 Nathan Wyeth 

For me, we we'll put it right in your driveway if you tell us the the model you want the color you want, give us a week and we'll we'll put it in your driveway. 

00:08:32 Nathan Wyeth 

And electronic, you know DocuSign on your phone and it's it's yours for one to four years and up to 25. 

00:08:40 Niall Riddell 

1000 miles a year with with just one week lead time. 

00:08:45 Nathan Wyeth 

Depends on the model you're looking for. If it's a Tesla Model 3, we've probably we'll probably get it to you in a week. If it's a one that's a little less common, it might take might take a. 

00:08:47 Niall Riddell 

Very impressive. 

00:08:55 Nathan Wyeth 

Couple of weeks. 

00:08:56 Chris George 

We went, I think one one thing to to chime in here on is we, you know we're uniquely positioned also to help the customer. So you say what else can you? 

00:08:56 

Right. 

00:09:05 Chris George 

Give me. I think that energy companies potentially are uniquely suited to educate the customer on Ev's. You see it across the board. Uh, in education efforts. The challenge is, unless you're hanging out at that physical asset, uh, you know, the customer has a hard time potentially trusting you when they're making it a very. 

00:09:25 Chris George 

Large life decision on a vehicle. 

00:09:28 Chris George 

And so we, like I said, are uniquely able to provide fantastic support when it comes to, you know, calculating cost savings, emission savings, whatever it is kind of have a full suite of, you know offerings. 

00:09:41 Chris George 

That we offer to the. 

00:09:41 Speaker 5 

Now I know from working number of Spanish spend the time that folks, their home energy is generally purchase. So is this octopus energy clever way to get me to look at doing house kind of thing or whatever it is that's? 

00:09:55 Chris George 

I wouldn't say, you know, maybe I'll chime in to what I'm seeing from the customers and Nathan can talk a little more broadly about. 

00:10:00 Chris George 

But, but you know, we certainly see that when you're making that decision for the vehicle, the vehicle is is very important and key and critical. So all those life things that Nathan outlined earlier, you know does it fit my my family, can it get me from Houston to Austin? But what we are seeing is a really strong uptick once you've you've made that big decision, you got to look at you know one of the other. 

00:10:21 Chris George 

Largest decisions that you have on a monthly basis in Texas in particular, which is your energy consumption and EV drivers you know are spending are using you know 2500 K Sorry, 2500 kilo. 

00:10:32 Chris George 

Dollars a month on their homes. Right. Plus, that's a lot of energy. And so, you know, yeah, they they begin to consider it pretty, pretty significantly. You know, once you've made that decision, we're seeing, as I said, a pretty large uptick in adoption of that energy product. I think Nathan can kind of expand. 

00:10:53 Chris George 

Here on. 

00:10:54 Chris George 

The more strategic. 

00:10:55 Nathan Wyeth 

I'll just say we're excited about electric cars on their own as a standalone product where we can pair that with our our energy plans even better. And octopus is really excited about the whole spectrum of energy tech that that a customer. 

00:11:15 Nathan Wyeth 

The homeowner can adopt, whether it's batteries, solar, electric car or a smart there. 

00:11:21 Nathan Wyeth 

Step and all of those can be are are elements that the Octopus platform can manage to get to the lowest cost and simplest plans for the customer. 

00:11:33 Chris Sass 

In in the previous answer, I think Chris, you mentioned, if I wanted a Tesla three series, you might get that much quicker or maybe and you mentioned that. But I think one of the Tesla experiences is the software. What's the user experience if I if I lease an EV from? 

00:11:49 Chris Sass 

View. 

00:11:50 Chris Sass 

And perhaps my home has octopus energy as well. What's the user experience like? 

00:11:54 Chris George 

Sure. I mean, I'd say there are a couple of experiences, right. One is the reason why we like used cars is that the technology in a used Tesla looks and feels still similar to that of a brand new Tesla. You, you know, it's actually very quite challenging for a customer to come in and unless they know the very specific you know model. 

00:12:16 Chris George 

Your adjustments that Tesla or other manufacturers have made, it's hard for them to recognize or realize the difference between a 21 versus a 23. 

00:12:25 Chris George 

The the, the, the. 

00:12:28 Chris George 

Additional you know, tech experience, let's say an intelligent octopus, it's actually a very a very similar experience, right? We have a very intuitive app. Tesla is a very intuitive app. We're able to, you know, intelligent, manage your intelligently, manage your charging for you. 

00:12:46 Chris George 

Tesla also offers that, but you know more importantly in in the way that these vehicles are being modernized, we're able to. 

00:12:56 Chris George 

You know, assign driver keys on phone apps in a very seamless, fantastic way that you just weren't able to. 

00:13:02 Chris George 

Do. 

00:13:03 Chris George 

With the traditional key. 

00:13:04 Chris George 

For example, and we had to do a lot of really I think. 

00:13:08 Chris George 

You know exciting things for the customer that that. 

00:13:11 Chris George 

Weren't. 

00:13:12 Chris George 

You know weren't offered here probably 2-3 years ago. 

00:13:14 Niall Riddell 

So this this all sounds too good to be true. You know, brilliant package, great support, all the education, car and driver within one week. You know, the question I would then ask you guys. 

00:13:24 Niall Riddell 

Is where are you on challenges? What are the biggest challenges you see? You know, what are the things that are holding people back from making this transition and coming over to? 

00:13:33 Nathan Wyeth 

Join you? Yeah, we did some user testing of our website and that was actually one of the the biggest things that came up because auto shopping for a car is. 

00:13:44 Nathan Wyeth 

A. 

00:13:46 Nathan Wyeth 

A stressful task and it's one where people go into it not having a lot of trust in what they're going to see and and hear from a from traditional car dealers they we've had in these these interviews they've said, oh, that this package looks too good to be true and we have to assure them that it's it's real. 

00:14:05 Nathan Wyeth 

And so I think this speaks to what can happen with technology and innovation and coming in from another angle with the the approach that octopus takes to elevate the customer experience and the way we've done an electricity and to bring that to to auto retail and and getting. 

00:14:22 Nathan Wyeth 

Car and I think the single thing that we try and help people with as they're considering an electric car that that the question that we ask, that people don't always ask when they get when they walk up to a car dealer is where do you drive, where do you park? Let's talk about how you going to charge this car and the. 

00:14:42 Nathan Wyeth 

Answer is frequently, and especially in a place like Houston. 

00:14:45 Nathan Wyeth 

With. 

00:14:46 Nathan Wyeth 

Big a lot of people living in single family homes. The question of can this electric car work for you is actually a much simpler one than they might have the. 

00:14:57 Nathan Wyeth 

We if you can, if you can plug your car in overnight, whether to a regular outlet or to an an EV charger that we help you install, it can get very, very easy. And that's I think something that that Americans have gotten a lot of Americans have. 

00:15:17 Nathan Wyeth 

Seeing the media talk about the public charging experience and how that's still maturing infrastructure, but that if you've got a home and your home has has electricity, which I bet that it does, then you can an electric car could work for you. 

00:15:31 Niall Riddell 

And I think and not a single episode gets to pass without talking about some form of charging. 

00:15:36 Niall Riddell 

So you've you've highlighted the public charge and experience and I know you guys been doing a lot of work on trying to simplify that. Can you tell us a bit more about what you're doing in the US to make it easier for your customers to get out and about and charge on the highways? 

00:15:48 Nathan Wyeth 

So one of the most exciting forays for octopus into electric vehicles is actually we haven't yet brought to the US, but it's called Electro verse, and it's now the largest app to one app to to connect to any charging network in the UK and Europe, it's now the largest such. 

00:16:09 Nathan Wyeth 

Platform. And so that just. 

00:16:12 Nathan Wyeth 

Yeah, it takes a whole set of complications out of the equation for for public charging. I can just say if and when we're able to have that in the US, we're we're really excited to to bring it together with the other pieces. And I think it's it'll really complement the home charging that we already. 

00:16:32 Nathan Wyeth 

Talk about. 

00:16:33 Niall Riddell 

And what's the competitive landscape like in the US? I mean, we've got auto manufacturers that we hear a lot about bringing vehicles to market, changing the sales model, changing the dynamic. But you guys are leasing vehicles. Do you see a lot of competition for the consumer lease model direct from OEMs or are you finding that this actually you know you really differentiated with your second hand? 

00:16:54 Niall Riddell 

Vehicle combined with energy approach. 

00:16:56 Nathan Wyeth 

So we do see, we do see a lot of a lot of offers right now from automakers who are they're producing more and more electric cars. They need to get them out on the road. 

00:17:10 Nathan Wyeth 

And so we do compete every when when we price each month we we look across the board at what what shoppers can get if they're leasing new as I mentioned for most of our models, we can save you between 3 and $7000 over the course of a lease. So that adds up to like. 

00:17:31 Nathan Wyeth 

Over $100 per month on the monthly payment, usually a lower amount due at signing and no hidden fees. None of the stuff you sometimes encounter with a when you go through the the buying process in a traditional dealership. 

00:17:47 Nathan Wyeth 

We also have some elements that you won't find in a a a lease that we think respond to a traditional some elements we don't see in a traditional lease that we think respond to some of the concerns that people have as they start to drive electric. So we have the ability to flex the number of miles that you. 

00:18:06 Nathan Wyeth 

In your in your plan, over the course of the lease, in case you adjust your your driving and we also make it easier to bring the car back early. 

00:18:16 Nathan Wyeth 

We think for the most part, we're setting people up to to have a great experience driving an electric car, but we do imagine that after a year or two or three years they may have signed up for a four year lease. But in two years they see a new electric car that we can bring them that's even better. And so we make it really easy to make. 

00:18:35 Nathan Wyeth 

That to make that switch. 

00:18:36 Chris Sass 

You're making it user friendly. You talked about the finance. I think even today the feds talking about changing into. 

00:18:41 Chris Sass 

Rates and right now interest rates are fairly high for historically relatively short term historically. I mean they've been higher in the past. How dependent are you on interest rates for this model to continue to work if if we get back down to new car dealers deals where I can get stuff for zero down and great great low interest rates, is this still something you expect to work or is this something only works well? 

00:19:02 Chris Sass 

And medium to high interest rates. 

00:19:04 Nathan Wyeth 

Well, right now, if you're if we're talking about the offers that automakers are putting on their new electric cars. 

00:19:10 Nathan Wyeth 

We do see 1.99 APRS or even 0 APRS, so, so that's something that these automakers are already applying to their vehicles. I mean and and don't get me wrong like these are exciting new electric cars when I when I see the 2024-2025 models, what I'm thinking about is. 

00:19:15 Chris Sass 

You are seeing that OK. 

00:19:32 Nathan Wyeth 

Can't wait to have that in the Octopus Electric vehicle fleet in one or. 

00:19:35 Niall Riddell 

Two or three years. So you you can see that there's a transition and a trend going on. You historically when we've talked about this, the US tends to be slightly behind where we are. 

00:19:44 Niall Riddell 

In Europe, you can probably see what's going on over here in the UK with your colleagues who are driving programs around vehicle to grid and other innovations. What do you anticipate, you know, offering your customers over the next two to three years as tech improves or the opportunity to bring knowledge and insight to the market becomes available? 

00:20:02 Nathan Wyeth 

Yeah, I think the. 

00:20:04 Nathan Wyeth 

The vehicle to home vehicle to grid equation is where this the strengths that octopus has from its different businesses come together in even more exciting ways. 

00:20:16 Nathan Wyeth 

And for the customer, the the goal is to continue to keep things simple and straightforward and to elevate the experience. And so today we offer free home charging integrated into the the monthly payment for your car and with if we can increase the value. 

00:20:36 Nathan Wyeth 

Of that card to the grid and and bring more dollars into the equation from virtual power plant type approaches. Then I think we have the opportunity to to drop to lower that cost further. So today we're you know we've got Tesla model threes starting around $300.00 a month all in. 

00:20:55 Nathan Wyeth 

You could see that number go down if if the the vehicle to grid equation comes into the picture. 

00:21:02 Chris Sass 

Could you bring up a good point, especially for talking Texas and air cotton, that it in the unique situation there demand response and being a virtual power plant are you are are these fleet, are they a virtual power plant or do you intend them to be a virtual power plant? 

00:21:18 Nathan Wyeth 

I think you could apply that definition. 

00:21:21 Nathan Wyeth 

Certainly the all of the vehicles that are part of the that are part of the active managed charging on the octopus energy EV driver rate, those are all being managed in relation to real time pricing on on the Texas grid, so. 

00:21:39 Nathan Wyeth 

I think that I think that fits the definition. 

00:21:41 Chris Sass 

And is this just residential or are you involved with fleet and commercial vehicles as well? 

00:21:46 Chris George 

Just residential at the time. 

00:21:47 Niall Riddell 

So if we if we go back to how the consumer experiences vehicle to grid. 

00:21:51 Niall Riddell 

Because you're working on intelligent octopus and you're getting the consumer to tell you when the vehicle is available. You then for for today's active management system you go right. This is a cheap period. We'll put electricity in now and the the consumer gets the outcome they want. So they're not seeing a monetary benefit on their energy bill. If we move to a vehicle to grid vehicle to home scenario, you're going to do the same thing. 

00:22:13 Niall Riddell 

Maybe discharge and then recharge at a lab? 

00:22:16 Niall Riddell 

The point is, all of the financial benefit gonna sit inside the lease. Or do you see there's going to be a scenario whereby we're gonna drop the energy price into their energy bill because you can see it's another where you generate electricity. You top up your own car, you sell back to the grid. You're really into that sort of prosumer experience. 

00:22:35 Chris George 

Yeah, I mean, I mean, right now the consumer is actually benefiting on the energy side as well, so. 

00:22:40 Chris George 

So for you know, for octopus energy, the base rate is X, but if you enroll your, you know Nathan mentioned smart thermostat. If you enroll your EV you actually get a lower rate and right now that rate for the consumer is the lowest rate for whole home energy. You know in the Texas market. And so you are seeing a benefit. 

00:23:01 Chris George 

Yes, I would imagine that benefit would continue to increase, you know. And then as Nathan mentioned, you know hopefully be applied to both the vehicle and. 

00:23:09 Chris George 

The home. 

00:23:10 Niall Riddell 

And one of the things I've been learning about the US market is you, there's there's certain dynamics, certain changes the IRA, some of the mechanisms being used to incentivise either infrastructure or incentivise vehicles are different. What more can you tell us about how the consumer experience might be different to other markets and what do you see really driving forward the uptake of? 

00:23:30 Niall Riddell 

Vehicles. 

00:23:31 Nathan Wyeth 

So we look at the the electric car options we have in the US and and then the ones that octopus brings to its customers in the UK for example, and you see some really interesting variations. 

00:23:45 Nathan Wyeth 

You won't be surprised. The cars we have in the US are bigger. There's more of a focus on long range. I mean, I think UK consumers are also asking themselves, how far can this car take me? But the distances in Texas are they're big, they're they're big by any standard. And so I think we spend a lot of time. 

00:24:05 Nathan Wyeth 

Talking with customers about, you know, how often they're taking Rd. trips if they're going, if they're in the Texas triangle, that's Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio. 

00:24:17 Nathan Wyeth 

Depending on the frequency they're they're taking those trips, we'll talk to them about public charging options and the range they'll want on their car. Maybe they want a long range Model 3 instead of a standard range for example. Or if they're going further, going on longer trips, we'll talk to them about the the you know, have it. 

00:24:36 Nathan Wyeth 

Maximize in the range so that they can have the most convenient experience. We wish we had more large SUV's available and I think we will soon and that and that's just responding to what you see on the road. 

00:24:50 Chris George 

In Texas, yeah. And I'd say specifically around, you know, federal funds. 

00:24:54 Chris George 

A lot of the infrastructure money that is coming down from the federal government is going through states who crafted statewide infrastructure plans and those plans, at least initially, are geared toward corridors. And so, as Nathan mentioned, going between cities, we are strategically putting. 

00:25:15 Chris George 

Infrastructure, you know, supported or. 

00:25:18 Chris George 

Funded by the federal government. 

00:25:20 Chris George 

To an extent, you know in strategic places where you're, you know, moving between Houston and Austin or Houston and Dallas, etc. 

00:25:27 Niall Riddell 

You guys have talked a lot about speaking to the customer. How do you do that because clearly you've got a website that tells you the basics. Is this a a live chat I get on and I talk to someone or do you get out there on the road to run roadshows and actually invite people in to speak to you? How do you speak? 

00:25:45 Niall Riddell 

To the consumer. 

00:25:45 Chris George 

Yeah. I mean right now we offer the consumer, you know, multiple paths to engage with us. So if you want to go through our entire process, lease a vehicle without talking to a human, you can do that. 

00:25:57 Chris George 

If you don't prefer that which most of the customers actually like to talk to us, you can do a number of ways, right. You can submit a quote. We can give you some. 

00:26:05 Chris George 

Of your estimated. 

00:26:05 Chris George 

Savings. You can text us, call us e-mail with us. You know, I'd say we're pretty responsive on that. It's amazing. 

00:26:16 Chris George 

Each customer is their own, you know, unique snowflake and they have their own questions. And so I think some customers want to want to talk to you, you know, late at night or in the early in the morning. Some just want to text and have no interest in talking we. 

00:26:30 Chris George 

Can do all. 

00:26:31 Chris George 

That, I mean, I think one of the interesting things is. 

00:26:33 

This. 

00:26:34 Chris George 

We do offer customers, you know, you're you're you're getting a car from us, you know, we go see the cars before the customer, you know, receives them. And so we send you pictures. We've test driven and inspected them, you know, made sure they're in great condition. And so there are no surprises in the customer really, you know. 

00:26:54 Chris George 

Goes into the process eyes wide open. 

00:26:56 Niall Riddell 

So you suddenly. 

00:26:57 Chris Sass 

Go what's the? 

00:26:57 Chris Sass 

Ideal the ideal customer for you, right? So Houston, you know, people live up in The Woodlands. They got commute all the way down. They're sitting in traffic forever. It's not an ideal place to spend a lot of time in your car. It's hotter than heck. A lot of there. If you get to West TX, it gets even hotter. Who's your dream customer? How far are they commuting? And how long are they spending their car each day? And? 

00:27:17 Chris Sass 

How does that impact their choice to an? 

00:27:19 Chris George 

Electric vehicle well, I think, I think we we probably have a a couple of ideal customers which is not an ideal customer, but our lease is very uniquely constructed to serve those who only commute a short amount. So 5000 miles a year. 

00:27:35 Chris George 

That's, you know, that's a vehicle you can charge on a Level 1 charger overnight, getting, you know, 30 miles overnight you'll be fine. 

00:27:42 Chris George 

But we also. 

00:27:42 Chris George 

Serve you know what's known as the Super commuter and like you said, if you're going from The Woodlands all the way down to Houston or even further out, you know, 30 plus miles each way a day, which people do even more than that. 

00:27:55 Chris George 

You know, we serve those folks as well and that that's upwards of 25,000 miles a year. You know when. 

00:28:01 Chris George 

You start doing the the the. 

00:28:02 Chris George 

Fuel savings on a customer who's also an octopus energy customer, you're getting 25,000 miles of free fuel a year and you're getting a low home energy rate. Yeah, exactly. It's almost too. 

00:28:13 Chris George 

Good to be true. 

00:28:15 Niall Riddell 

I'm just nodding away for those who are listening in at the moment because it's a it's like a kind of dream scenario, isn't it? You're gonna give them a lower cost to operate, bundle it in with all the smart tech. And I think one of the things that octopus is really renowned for here in the UK is. 

00:28:29 Niall Riddell 

Helping, helping soften the blow of this transition into new technology, helping customers understand what they're adopting and what they're buying. And that suddenly gives the, you know, the emphasis for others to follow. And it's, you know, it's how do you become a soft consumer face for going on that journey and it's fabulous to to hear these. 

00:28:50 Niall Riddell 

You know, case studies you must have seen some quite an or had some quite unusual conversations over the last few years as you've been exploring and testing this space. Can you tell us about some of those? 

00:29:01 Nathan Wyeth 

Experiences. Well, I think we we launched the product at the the Houston Auto Show in January and. 

00:29:08 Nathan Wyeth 

We had every possible conversation you can imagine about electric cars there. People who were enthusiasts, people who had decided they would never drive a car that didn't have a gas tank and everything in between. And our take is and I think the octopus philosophy has always been we want to. 

00:29:28 Nathan Wyeth 

We want to bring people, plans and options that are fair, simple and clean, and so it's for the the the we're going back to what's most important for someone when they're shopping for a car. The cars got to work for. 

00:29:41 Nathan Wyeth 

Them. 

00:29:42 Nathan Wyeth 

They've they've got it. We want to give them a great experience getting that car and driving that car, and we want to reduce the complexity and making the transition to electric driving. So everything in our product is geared towards that and everything in the experience you'll have when you come to our website and engage with an energy specialist is geared towards that. So we have this. 

00:30:02 Nathan Wyeth 

All in monthly payment that wraps together. 

00:30:06 Nathan Wyeth 

Everything but your your personal insurance for the car, the the home, charging, the maintenance, warranty, all those pieces. And so we spend a lot of time talking about home charging, but there's other aspects of an electric car that are different from a gas car and the way that a customer might think about. 

00:30:26 Nathan Wyeth 

The maintenance involved or the warranties they might purchase, we've thought about those aspects and put together the package so that they. 

00:30:32 Nathan Wyeth 

And they don't have to, you know, become an expert on battery and electric drivetrains in order to feel confident that they're going to get into a pre owned electric car and have it drive great for them. 

00:30:44 Niall Riddell 

This is incredible. So you guys have wrapped it up and I love that statement. It's fair, it's simple, it's clean. But you, you're helping overcome the barriers and the challenges and enable them to bring themselves into this, you know, transition to electric. 

00:30:57 Niall Riddell 

Well, it's it's been a real pleasure to have you both on the show today. Thank you, Nathan. Thank you, Chris. It's been really insightful to hear from you. Thank. 

00:31:04 Chris George 

Yeah. 

00:31:05 Chris Sass 

You pleasure for our audience. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Insiders Guide to Energy EV finding out about leasing secondhand EV's. Who'd have thought? But there's economic ways to get in. You don't get stuck with the old technology at the end of the day, you're able to move on to the latest, greatest when you're ready. 

00:31:19 Chris Sass 

It seems kind of exciting. You might want to check it out. We'll talk to you again next time on the insiders guide to Energy EV. 

00:31:25 Chris Sass 

Bye for now.