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🌊 Decentralizing the Fuel Station

Why EV charging, not the car, is the real bottleneck to electrification

We’re joined by Arnaud Tran, Co-founder & CEO of Voltaback, a company building the software layer for charging corporate electric vehicles at home.

In this episode, we dive into the hidden infrastructure problem behind EV adoption, and unpack what it really takes to turn fragmented, at-home charging into a scalable system for companies.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why EV adoption is accelerating, but the system around is breaking

→ The “decentralized fuel station” problem companies didn’t anticipate

→ Why charging at home is 3-4x cheaper, and still underused

→ How Voltaback tracks, measures, and reimburses charging with precision

→ The data challenge behind energy loss (and why accuracy matters)

→ Why corporate fleets, not consumers, drive EV adoption

→ The China vs Europe gap in EV infrastructure and scale

→ How scheduling charging could unlock another 25% savings

→ What happens when millions of EVs hit the grid at once

Let’s go electric!

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New Wave | Hugo Rauch | Substack

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🌊 Drilling for the Future of Energy

Can geologic hydrogen and deep geothermal actually power the world?

We’re joined by Andy Lubershane, Partner at Energy Impact Partners and author of Steel For Fuel.

In this episode, we go deep underground, into geologic hydrogen and geothermal, and unpack what it really takes to unlock planet-scale, zero-carbon energy from beneath our feet.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why hydrogen went from “Swiss Army knife” to overhyped, and where it actually matters

→ The brutal economics of green hydrogen vs. gray hydrogen (and why cost still dominates)

→ Geologic hydrogen: drilling for a naturally occurring clean fuel

→ The wild uncertainty: from niche resource to “powering civilization for millennia”

→ Why geothermal today is tiny, and what’s blocking it from scaling globally

→ The real bottleneck: drilling deeper (and why it’s harder than it sounds)

→ Why deep geothermal could outperform fusion, if we solve the engineering

This is episode four of a five part series. Subscribe to receive every episode. 👇

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New Wave | Hugo Rauch | Substack

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🌊 Drilling the Future, Can Geothermal Power Everything?

From 0.01% to 8%, what it takes to unlock next-gen geothermal at scale.

We’re joined by Torsten Kolind, Co-founder of Underground Ventures, a specialist VC fund backing next-generation geothermal technologies.

In this episode, we dive into why geothermal, one of the most reliable and abundant energy sources, remains almost invisible today, and unpack what it really takes to turn a niche resource into a global energy backbone.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why geothermal is still ~0.014% of global energy, and what’s holding it back

→ The breakthrough behind “next-gen geothermal”

→ How oil & gas infrastructure could be repurposed to scale geothermal globally

→ Why geothermal might not compete with solar and wind, but complement them

→ The rise of companies like Fervo, and what their success unlocks

→ Europe vs US: heat vs power, and diverging market dynamics

→ Why drilling, flow control, and steam conversion are the real bottlenecks

→ The “super hot rock” opportunity, and how 400°C could 10x efficiency

→ Why Underground Ventures is betting on picks & shovels, not power plants

→ What’s still missing in the geothermal stack, and where founders should build

Let’s go underground!