Mike Englhard is the Chief Development Officer at Terawatt Infrastructure, a pioneering startup dedicated to designing, developing, and operating high-powered charging sites for commercial electric vehicles across the US.

Terawatt has been a trailblazer in the EV infrastructure market since 2021 as it started to strategically acquire prime charging sites, at a time where few heavy-duty electric trucks were on the road. With over $1 billion raised and growing momentum behind commercial vehicle electrification, Terawatt is now rapidly expanding: 15 charging sites in development in the US and dozens more in the pipeline.

In this episode, we delve deep into what it takes to develop large-scale clean energy infrastructure and how to accelerate these multi-million dollar projects. Tune in to hear about:

• Building High-Powered EV Fleet Charging Stations: Discover how to develop large-scale infrastructure projects; selecting optimal land parcels, navigating permitting complexities, and procuring long-lead-time electrical components.
• The Role of Grid Interconnection: Understand the pivotal role of grid interconnection and strategies to expedite this crucial process.
• Advancements in Charging Technology: Learn about the latest developments in charging technology, including the emerging Megawatt Charging System, and how it could unlock the widespread adoption of long-haul truck electrification.
• On-Site Solar and Battery Storage: Explore the benefits of using on-site renewables to power charging stations directly.
• Terawatt's Business Model: Understand how Terawatt's business model could unlock hundreds of millions in revenue with a relatively small number of charging sites.

Enjoy the discussion!

To learn more about trucking decarbonization:

• Episode 15 with Ian Rust (Revoy): learn about the benefits and challenges of electric trucks, hydrogen trucks, and other decarbonization solutions for commercial vehicles
• TeraWatt Infrastructure: explore TeraWatt's charging network under development (~15 sites)
• Federal truck charging network strategy: dig into the US strategy to accelerate the deployment of Zero-Emission Infrastructure for Freight Trucks (released in March 2024)

Ian Rust is the founder and CEO of Revoy, a startup enabling heavy-duty truck electrification at no upfront cost. Revoy's one-of-a-kind electric trailer, which fits between the tractor and trailer of any diesel truck, can reduce fuel use by 90%—all at no upfront cost and in under 2 minutes.

With over 25% of US transportation emissions coming from 3 million semi-trucks, Revoy offers a critical solution to decarbonize the 3 million diesel semi-trucks on the road today.

In this episode, we explore the trucking industry and Revoy's unique technology. Tune in to hear about:

• Ian’s insights on hydrogen's high costs and his strong belief in electrification.
• The current limitations of electric trucks (charging time & cost) and how Revoy's electric trailer can overcome these barriers.
• Revoy's product development strategy for rapidly developing sophisticated hardware technology by leveraging automotive and aerospace supply chains.
• Ian's broader vision of creating renewable-powered hubs to support entire communities, going well beyond trucking decarbonization

Enjoy the discussion!

To learn more about trucking decarbonization:

• Revoy website
• Ryder report on total cost of transportation

Nicolas Banchet is the co-founder of Zeplug, a startup installing Electric Vehicles (EV) charging stations. What sets Zeplug apart? Their positioning and innovative business model:

• Targeting multi-occupant buildings: Zeplug provides EV charging services only for apartment buildings where the electrical infrastructure has to be shared in parkings
• No upfront cost: EV charging service is provided at no upfront cost for the building; Zeplug funds the shared infrastructure and recoups costs over time based on resident usage.

This approach has fueled Zeplug's rapid expansion across Europe, now serving over 16,000 buildings and offering access to 1 million parking spaces.

But that's not all.

Nicolas also founded another thriving startup at the same time: ChargeGuru. Operating in the EV charging space as well, ChargeGuru provides end-to-end installation services for individual and commercial customers.

In this episode, we talk with Nicolas about:

• His journey from management consulting to CEO of a family business, then founding two climate tech startups
• Customer pain points in EV charger installation and how ChargeGuru simplified the process
• Building a strong flywheel with partners (OEMs and property managers) selling the Zeplug solution
• Key strategies for entering new countries and markets with varying regulations
• Expansion potential of Zeplug into Virtual Power Plants using vehicle-to-home/grid technology and current challenges in scaling up this market

Enjoy the discussion!

Nicolas Guinebretière is the co-founder of Vestack, a startup reinventing the construction industry with low-carbon materials and offsite manufacturing. By using timber frames manufactured away from the construction site, Vestack can be cost-competitive with traditional cement-based buildings while cutting the building's carbon footprint by up to 3. This is a game changer in an industry representing 25% of global emissions.

Launched in 2018, Vestack has already delivered over 15 buildings and is rapidly scaling up with another 30 projects under construction. In this episode, we talk with Nicolas about:

• His experience transitioning from McKinsey to building houses
• How to start a construction startup from scratch
• The climate impact of the construction industry and available low-carbon materials
• How off-site manufacturing is the key to making low-carbon materials competitive
• How to rapidly scale up an asset-heavy manufacturing business

Enjoy the discussion!

Evan Hynes is the CEO and co-founder of ClimateBase, the leading job platform for climate. Launched in 2020, ClimateBase has scaled incredibly fast with over 250,000 monthly users, over 100,000 subscribers to its climate newsletter, and more than 7,000 participants to the ClimateTech week it recently organized in San Francisco.

And all of this growth with only 7 full-time employees and ~$300K in angel investor funding.

In this episode, we talk with Evan about:

• His early experiences in community-building as an undergrad at UC Barbara and then at a YC Combinator startup offering software engineering bootcamps.
• The origin story behind ClimateBase stemming from Evan's personal challenges with finding relevant climate jobs and building network in the climate space.
• The climate job gap and how to successfully transition into a climate career.
• The importance of timing in startup launches and the power of viral word-of-mouth to grow ClimateBase to 250K users without any paid advertising.

Enjoy the discussion!

Raphael Declercq is the CEO of PowerFlex, a 300 people strong company based in San Diego, California with the mission to help businesses transition to distributed renewables and electrified transportation.

Launched as a subsidiary of EDF - the French energy giant operating over 30+ nuclear power plants - PowerFlex has quickly become the 2nd largest installer of rooftop solar for commercial buildings and the 4th largest EV installer in the US.

With $100M raised last year, PowerFlex aims to accelerate the transition of commercial customers to clean energy and to continue to invest in its unique technology integrating on-site solar generation with intelligent EV charging.

In this episode, we talk with Raphael about:

• How to create a startup within a giant organization
• What it will take to cover every commercial rooftop with solar panels
• What is the impact of EV charging on the stability of the electrical grid
• How the PowerFlex tech platform can optimize commercial energy assets
• What are Virtual Power Plants and how could they play a critical role in a renewables-dominated grid

Enjoy the discussion!

Olivier Reinaud is Co-Founder & Managing Director at NetZero, a startup bringing carbon removal at scale in the tropics with biochar.

Launched in 2021 with a diverse founding team, including the climatologist Jean Jouzel (IPCC vice chair), NetZero has rapidly demonstrated its technology in Cameroon and Brazil and has been selected in the prestigious Musk Foundation’s X Prize for Carbon Removal.

With $12M raised recently to scale up operations, Net Zero aims to remove 2 million tons of CO2 with biochar by 2030 with a mutually beneficial partnership between all biochar stakeholders:

• Agricultural cooperatives get to valorize cumbersome biomass residues into biochar
• Farmers get that biochar to improve yields and minimize fertilizer use
• Food companies finance biochar production to reduce their supply chain carbon emissions

In this episode, we talk with Olivier about:

• how is grandfather ventured into biochar when climate change was still doubted or ignored by most
• the key role of carbon credits in achieving a net zero world
• how biochar is produced, how does it capture carbon from plants, and what are the benefits for farmers
• Net Zero licensing model and how it will enable this startup to rapidly grow from 2 facilities to hundreds of biochar facilities

Enjoy the discussion!

Sebastian Berning is the co-founder & CEO of Instagrid, a startup aiming to replace combustion generators used for mobile power supply by clean portable batteries.

These generators are used every time power supply is needed without an easy access to the grid: in food carts to cook, on construction sites to run jackhammers, at festivals for lighting & sound, and in countless other applications.

While not getting much attention from regulators to date, these generators do pose massive health and climate problem by releasing huge quantities of air particulates, typically in dense urban areas, and producing significant CO2 emissions (1h run time of a generator is equivalent to driving 250km with a car)

In this episode, we talk with Sebastian about:

• Instagrid's ideation from his experience in Silicon Valley innovation labs to building a battery factory in Germany
• how are batteries built and how Instagrid has fully redesigned the battery management system
• how to sell a complex industrial product before building anything
• the challenge of scaling up a business with a long tail of small customers

Enjoy the discussion!

To learn more about Instagrid and clean mobile power:

• Clean Air Project: EU-funded study assessing generators climate emissions (~ 30m, ~ 20 pages)
• Instagrid use cases visualized