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The Entrepreneur Podcast is sponsored by Connie Clerici, QS ’08, and Closing the Gap Healthcare Group, Inc.
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You're listening to the Entrepreneur Podcast from the Western Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, powered by Ivey. My name is Eric Morse and I will be your host for this episode.
Entrepreneurs are at the forefront of innovation. They change the way industries work and impact the global, the local and the personal.
Christopher Misch embodies that innovator ethos. As the CEO of ChargerQuest, a pioneer in the electric vehicle industry in Canada, Misch is on a mission to change the way Canadians travel and impact their world.
In this episode, discover Misch’s surprising late entry into the world of entrepreneurship and how he has been able to tie his passion for sustainability and innovation to change the world, one charging station at a time.
Eric Morse
Alright, so the question I always start with Chris, did you always know you're going to be an entrepreneur? Or is this something kind of came along later in life?
Chris Misch
You know, it's, it's a really, really good question. And, you know, my the short answer, the answer was some brevity is, I never knew I was going to be an entrepreneur. But you know, I think in my DNA, I think something in my DNA was there, it was there brewing. And so it naturally just exited when the right opportunity arose. And when their passion arose, you know.
Eric Morse
Tell us just a little bit about your background before ChargerQuest.
Chris Misch
Yeah, absolutely. So for all of you, any undergrads in the room? All right, perfect. Do you have 100% certainty of what you're going to do in your life? Yeah, look at that. There's no hands up. So you're looking at the same guy up here. Okay. I did kinesiology, how perfect. You know, look at this space right here. I did an undergrad in Kinesiology at McMaster. I went into health care for about 20 years. But I've always been a serial entrepreneur, like I said, it was DNA, there was something in there that had to be awoken. And so after 20 years, I found myself wanting more, and getting into leadership roles, right? Aspiring and building and developing. I bought a clinic when I was in my 20s. I, it was a multidisciplinary clinic, I did some graduate postgraduate work. And then I decided, well, you know what, I'm down this healthcare path, let's let's be an entrepreneur on that path. So I started a consulting company. And then I started putting my fingers into different things and ultimately ended up as a, an administrator within the public health care system. Man, was that the wrong call, you know, it was the wrong call. And one day, literally, a good friend of mine, we would get together and have coffee at Starbucks, and we would swap stories. And he was a serial entrepreneur, you know, your typical, he dropped out of university to start his third business, okay, that's the kind of guy he was. So we shared a latte. And he took out a napkin sleeve, like, talk about right out of a playbook for an entrepreneur, he took out a napkin sleeve, and start scribbling about electric vehicles, and this is going to change the world. And, you know, he was giving me all this information and saying, "I'm gonna fund this, this is it, this is how we're going to combat climate change." And I just kind of looked at him, and there was something there that ignited in me. And I literally said, "I want to do this with you." You know, and this was a long time ago, this was 2011. Fairly long time ago, given the electric vehicle space. And I haven't looked back since.
Eric Morse
That's amazing. What do you think it was in his, maybe it was just he's that persuasive? But what was it in the, in his explanation of the electric vehicle industry that, you know, swayed you to really jump into something completely new, right?
Chris Misch
Yeah, you know, I think deep down, I've always had a really strong passion for the environment, you know, I try my best to look at look in the mirror and go, do I make good choices in my life, right? And, you know, as a parent, boy, that changes you too, right? And I know, any parents in the room, you're gonna nod on this one, you tend to make some choices that, I think will have an impact in your children's lives. And I have two daughters, one's coming to Western next year. Go Mustangs. But you know, I wanted to look at them in the face in the morning, and I wanted them to look back at a dad that was making a difference in the world, right? I felt like I was sort of on the hamster wheel in health care. And, so that that really inspired the conversation I had with Kent Rathwell back in that day, and I just knew it was the right thing, you know.
Eric Morse
Fantastic. And as you said, 2011 this is really a very much an emerging industry. It's still emerging today, just think back that many years ago, we were still in the midst of the financial crisis for crying out loud. Which most of these people have no idea even occurred. Anyways, that brings a lot of uncertainty, any emerging market, any new technology coming online? There's so much uncertainty, you know, how have you navigated that over the years? Can you, have you, did you set yourself up for pivoting? Or, you know, how did that flexibility come about? Oh, it sounds like a lot of problems.
Chris Misch
Yes. Yeah, it's a really good question. You know, I think the strongest entrepreneurs, you know, there's there's certain traits, right? You see those same traits in the world's entrepreneurs. They're, they're resilient. They persevere, right? When others don't take action, an entrepreneur steps forward and takes action. Would you guys agree? Like that's ultimately what, what we do. And, I'm the guy that will take action. I'm a risk taker. I always have been. The stock market will reflect that. My wife's probably, hopefully she's not here tonight. She probably smacked me on the shoulder. But, you know, I've had bad investments. I've had good investments, but I think the reality is, in this industry, it was just starting to bloom. And I was learning from some of the best, you know, my early days when I helped to start Sun Country Highway, I'll tell you a little anecdote story here. I started this company with Kent Rathwell, who 'on the napkin sleeve guy.' And then how we started the business was, we went out and bought a Tesla Roadster. So do you guys know what a Tesla Roadster is? Carbon fiber little two seater sports car. So we bought one. And then we decided to drive this car from one end of the country to the other, and build our own infrastructure and create the world's green, the longest green highway. So it was really a guerilla marketing campaign. And what we did was AD media events from coast to coast, right? And then we drove this roadster from coast to coast, not having a clue what it was going to do, or how we would get into this industry. But along the path, we realized the challenges that existed, it not just the technology, not just the the eruption of the industry, but also around people's mindset around this major shift that was going to ultimately happen in transportation, right? You know, even some of you in the room probably don't really understand sort of how we're going to get to that point where everybody could have an electric car, right? What are the demands on the infrastructure? How do we draw it from renewable sources of energy? How does technology play into it? How do the OEMs that build these cars play into it? Are there going to be enough vehicles? How do we get network operators like myself and our company to speak to other operators? How do we get on a common playing field? So there were a lot of problems. And, and ultimately, you're right, it was around, making sure we were agnostic, relative to the technology, but also having a business model that was extremely flexible. We weren't sure what type of industry we were diving into. And ultimately, we changed, we pivoted multiple times. And heck, we are today.
Eric Morse
Yeah. You had to, I, there's so many lessons in that, right? We, we talk to our students all the time about make sure you're talking to your customers, we probably should be pushing it further, put yourself in the shoes of your customers. And that's what you did in your cross country trip, right and really understanding the problem at a, at a base level. The other thing that I love that, you know, I think really does differentiate the best entrepreneurs from those that want to start a business, is those successful entrepreneurs learn fast, right? And they're, they're okay, with small fails along the way. Sometimes big fails, but small fails along the way, because they're learning and they're gonna take those opportunities to just keep learning and change. What are we learning? Okay, well, the learning says, "We need to go this way." Let's go that way. So that's a great story of flexibility over 11-13 years now, right?
Chris Misch
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm only going to quote Donald Trump once. And it'll be the last time. But you know, one thing that resonated when he said, "You fail your way to the top." And that's the truth. You know, you fail your way to the top, the key is just continuing to get up, learn from it, shake yourself off, and then take the next step forward. And, and honestly, Eric, I think, you know, the path to success is surrounding yourself by smarter people, bring you on talent, bring on support network. And, you know, in giving back. And I think this opportunity here today, and thank you all for joining us, is a good, is a good way to do that.
Eric Morse
A lot of like minded people in the room, and it sounds like, you know, your napkin stories is a great story of why that's so important. You know, make sure at the networking time you're chatting with each other, meeting somebody new in the room, maybe you haven't met before. All right, we had a speaker here not long ago in the Desjardins series that said, you know, "Canada's just a tough place logistics wise." Right? And here you are starting a logistics company in a in a sense, cross country. Thousands of miles of roads, hundreds of thousands of miles of roads. How do you make this work?
Chris Misch
Ah, gosh, it's a, it's a good question. Where do I start? Yeah, I mean, we have one of the most geographic and climate diverse countries in the world. That's also what keeps me very proud Canadian, right. I mean, it's, it's it's one of the most beautiful places.
Eric Morse
And not very population dense for all these charging stations.
Chris Misch
Yeah, absolutely. So the challenges are multi fold. I mean, we're now in seven provinces. We've got a hundred sites across the country, we're gonna have 250 sites this year, millions and millions of dollars of assets deployed across the country. And I think the way we did it, was simply by taking the approach of locking arms with the right people, you know, other corporations doing great things, you know, that may be sharing the same vision and passion, maybe there's an ESG component, maybe there's sustainability component, maybe there's a carbon credit, you know, element to it, or maybe there was just to help, to help them move in a better direction. And so we did that, you know, we partnered with REITs, we, we partner with larg real estate holders. And our business model is unique. You know, when I say we have a hundred locations, we don't own all 100 locations, we have unique relationships with the property owner, you know, we've contractually bind the property, and then we have a revenue share. So what that allowed us to do was explore areas and parts of Canada that we wouldn't have otherwise had access to, given its geographic diversity.
Eric Morse
Yeah, brilliant. You know, we were talking earlier that you have a number of investors. And I guess, when I think of really making this work at scale, you're gonna have to bring investors along. And so can you tell us a little bit about that journey? When, when did you know it was the right time to bring on the right type of investor, and how that's rolled, and where it may lead you?
Chris Misch
You know, investment into companies is, you know, ultimately, it's a stage right? As you begin to scale, as you begin to become revenue positive, then you become EBITDA positive, then you, then you start to go, wow, there's something here, I'm actually making a living doing this, right? But in a capital intensive business, like our company, where, you know, for example, just to put it into context for everyone in the room, you know, we build DC fast charging sites, we also build level two, like slower charging sites. A DC fast charging site is a million dollar capital injection per location, per location. So if I do 10 of them this year, or 50 of them this year, it's $50 million. And then you if you build it, they have to come, right? Because we make money off utilization of our chargers. And so, there comes a point in time where you have to go out to a community that has like interests and synergy and alignment, and draw in the right investment. And in our case, you know, we're laughing about this, because a few years ago, when COVID came, the markets kind of fell out. Our company was on a go public trajectory, you know, we had a plan to take it public on the TSX. So we had our audits done. And we were we were we brought on an investment bank, we did a pro forma, we locked in our financial, you know, everybody's learning this stuff, right? And we raised a bunch of capital, but at the time, the markets, they tanked, technology, stocks weren't doing well. So we had to pivot. We talked about pivoting already today, but boy, did we pivot there. So we brought on a lot of investors, which has been a challenge, because typically investors are looking for liquidity, right? You know, if I put $100,000 in your business, I want a 3x that on the other side, maybe on the markets, on the go public, they sell. Well, we didn't do that. So we pivoted into more of a private equity raise and raise capital in a different way. But I think here the the key learning for me, and hopefully I can convey to the room is, you know, definitely there'll be a time in a business where raising capital will become important. And again, you want to have the right team, the right people around you, I think to to do that in a way that helps to foster the growth of the company.
Eric Morse
Yeah, I couldn't agree more, I think, you know, I often describe entrepreneurship as the search for a business model that works. And usually you have to have that figured out before you go out for your raise, that said, you're gonna continue to move and pivot and change as the market demands. And, you know, you've done that over the last 13 years. It's amazing. So you're in an industry that, that's evolving, but it's set within a space that I think is so important. And if we were to talk about sustainability a little bit more broadly, you know, tell us about where you where you see things going, and maybe in the EV market, but perhaps broader. I'm sure you've had some thoughts on that area as well.
Introduction/Outro
Yeah,
Chris Misch
Yeah, I mean, that's a big question, right? And I mean, I think, going back to the pandemic, I think it, it shone a light, didn't it? I mean, not just on how we were all living, you know, within our little, and within our small ecosystems, but also on the globe in general, right? We started to look at climate change. And it became, it went from a non priority item to becoming a top two, top three priority item for governments around the world. And I think, in Canada, absolutely as well, right?. We saw all these policies, and all these pushes have come forward around electrification of vehicles, or at least emission free commitments, right? In different spaces, as well as all kinds of other great sustainability initiatives that have erupted. New incentive programs have come come about, here's my take on this. I would say that we're in for significant change in the next, you know, 10 years. I'll call it a 10 year window. And personally, I feel like we have to accomplish a lot in the next 10 years. And that's why I got bags under my eyes guys, because my 80 hour weeks are being put towards this initiative and it's, it's called, we have to do something, we have to do better, we have to be better. And I think it all starts with effective policy at the government level. But I think the real impetus is going to come from entrepreneurs, it's going to come from corporations and individuals that are going to make a difference, test the market, build a, you know, a business plan, and then execute on it. But here's the here's the conundrum, right? You know, it has to be economically sustainable, as well as environmental. And so that's really the marriage that has to occur. And I think we're getting that in the renewable energy space. We're seeing it in battery storage, we're seeing it in photovoltaics, and you know, in those elements and in wind, and we're seeing it in title, and we're seeing another ways, but we have to get better aligned. And when I say that, I don't just mean, here in Ontario, I think it's a global thing, I think we, we really need to come together as a, as a species. This sounds so organic, right? But I really do think we have to come together as humanity and say, hey, if we're going to, we're going to look after this great globe that we live on, we have to be a little better to it, you know. And that's, that's a tall order. But you know, I'm just happy to do my small part and push in the right direction.
Eric Morse
Not a, not a small part. I, you know, I'm struck, and I know, we have a fairly young audience. But and I know, this has been part of what many of you have thought of your whole lives, for some of us that are older, and we share the blame in this. A lot of moments during COVID that were real 'aha' moments for a lot of people, dolphins swimming in the canals of Venice, you know, crystal clear water, rivers and things cleaned up. And it was amazing how quickly that could regenerate when we let it happen, right. And so finding solutions that can keep our steady state that way, rather than the other way, is a huge, huge initiative, and it's going to take a lot of entrepreneurs working in these spaces to make it happen, is is kind of how I feel about it.
Chris Misch
Yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, certain nations around the world have have had a pretty good, you know, I mean, it doesn't take long you look around, right? We have large homes, we have too many cars, we, we like to spend, we like to have nice things. And I think it comes from people like the two of us up here, you know, and, and maybe older generations than us be where, they came to Canada, and they struggled, and they built something special for you know, the next generation. Well, now we're in a place where oh, boy, with that came the byproduct of that, which, you know, greenhouse gas emissions and industrialization. And I think now we're looking at and going, "Okay, well, what can we do now to do a little better?"
Eric Morse
What is it we really want to leave the next generation?
Chris Misch
Yeah, that's right, for sure.
Eric Morse
If you were to think back, and, you know, kind of 10 year, 13 year career now, as an entrepreneur, and leave kind of the group with some lessons, what would those lessons be? Or some of the things you've went, "Ah, wow, that was important."
Chris Misch
Oh, boy, where do I start? You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw it a bunch at you. And I think some of them are pretty straightforward. You know, the fact that you guys are here, that says a lot. And, and I really appreciate you guys, and I'm here for you as well. So I'm happy to answer questions afterwards. But, you know, get out there, participate, be a part of the voice, right, be a part of the solution. I think what we're finding in the world today is we're quick to point fingers and, and notice something that is not quite right. But come forward with a solution. You know, there's so many problems out there, that people aren't grappling with. And that's really at the heart of entrepreneurship, right? It's looking at it, identifying the problem and then acting on it. Some of the great things that I've learned over my, my life and I'm gonna quote Elon Musk, why not? Right? I have to. You know, I'm, I'm a, I'm a Tesla guy. I bought into Tesla, by the way, guys at $12. Sold it at 29. Stupid. Anyway. Regardless, you know, one thing that Elon said in in a recent publication, I can't quote it, but anyway, it really resonated to me. Entrepreneurs founders, in particular, guys like myself, guys, definitely like Elon Musk, right? He's a game changer and a genius. But it's a tough experience. I'm not gonna lie to you. Right? And we were talking about this a little bit. It's lonely. And you guys are going what? It is, because when you're a CEO, when you're a founder, there's a, and this is the part with Elon, there's a distillation of problems, right? So when a problem gets to my desk, all everything that comes to my desk is a problem. So everything I do, is is really dealing with negative things that are happening with your business because the resources, the Matrix that you've developed of people, are dealing with the good stuff: the sale, the execution, the contract, the securing the new, the new deal, right? The installation of the chargers, the press release, the good stories. And I thought that really stuck with me, you know, that there's a distillation of problems and it's gonna land on your desk. But you know, some of the learnings I find is, you know, things like, read, keep learning, but here's the one thing I'm gonna leave you and then I'll pass it back. As I've gone through my entrepreneurship journey, I used to think that surrounding myself by lots of people, was a good thing. And as I've gone through my career and my, my journey, that group has gotten smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Get rid of the naysayers. And a lot of them, I hate to say it, they're your family, they're your best friends, those people will drag you down. There, it's easier to get a job, and follow the path that we have society have sort of framed as the right thing to do. And so that there's a reason why 97% of people work for the other 3%, which are entrepreneurs, right? So stand up for yourself, find the right people with the same energy and passion and lock arms with those people. And then tied to that, mentors. I mean, I wouldn't be sitting up here today without a really good ecosystem, the right people. You know, smarter, faster, quicker minded people than the guy sitting up here. That's for sure.
Eric Morse
Yeah, that's awesome. Both great advice. I, you know, it's something I think we've talked about a little bit about, about how lonely it can be as an entrepreneur. And I think, again, that's, you know, finding likeminded folks that are going to be entrepreneurs. And the rise of peer groups from an entrepreneur perspective, is great, because you want to have those other entrepreneurs, you can pick up the phone and call that'll understand that you know, what it's like to struggle with payroll, what it's like to not want to take maybe news home even right? There's things you don't want to share with your employees, things you don't want to share at home sometimes, and having somebody else that's been through it, that you can pick up the phone and call is really powerful. So I love that. And I love the mentoring piece. I think it's so important. And thanks. Thanks for that.
Chris Misch
My pleasure.
Eric Morse
Questions from the group?
Student Question
You talked about give back and incentive programs. How important do you think it is for businesses that are focusing on sustainability to dive into that?
Chris Misch
Absolutely. I love it. I love it. I was privileged to go to, one of my mentors is David Suzuki, Dr. David Suzuki. Anybody know David David Suzuki? I mean, rock star, right? So David Suzuki group or David Suzuki Foundation, we connected for a few fantastic initiatives. You know, we were the transportation source for some of his initiatives across Canada. And then David invited me to his ad 80th birthday party in Toronto. And, and that was really, really cool. And, and I'll tell you, I knew then, this was a while back, because I think he's now, not getting on 90. And I knew we wanted to give back and give an incentive to support other initiatives, not just within emission free, you know, sort of electrification. So we give a percentage of our profits to DSG group so that they can invest in, you know, sustainability initiatives that are not necessarily aligned to what we do. So I think it's, I think it's great, you know, it builds credibility and shows, you know, you're giving back in different ways to communities, it's a win win. And, yeah, so I certainly support it. I think it's a great play.
Student Question
In the early stage of your business, there are multiple uncertainties and unknowns, even today, I think that would still be the case. So what's your approach to dealing with uncertainties on a nose?
Oh,
Chris Misch
Oh, gosh, I could give you a laundry list of things that happen. I mean, I think, you know, it really gets back to having a culture in your organization that, you know, where you have open communication, you, you're agile, you're flexible. You don't want to always be reactive, though, right? Like, I mean, I think it's really important to gather the right diligence, do, get through the diligence process, make sure you have all your facts together, make sure you, you really understand the root of something that's coming at you, and some of its pushed at you, right? You know, our space is crazy, right? Because some of the changes happen daily, weekly, monthly, you know, like for example this year, the changing of the connectors right? Remember when, you guys have probably learned this, that the NACS connector from Tesla, now other OEMs are pivoting there. So guess what we had to do? We had to look at all of our assets and go, "Oh my goodness, we now need this North American charging standard or 'NACS,' on our chargers." Well now our suppliers and there's a manufacturing implication, right? So it gives you a good example of, things that come down the path that you have to manage. But you don't want to be too, too reactive, right? So what we did was, we sat back we, we got together as an executive team, we pulled in, again, the right people in the room, globally, right? Because I think that's really key, is understanding some of these uncertainties, but how they have an impact on business, the business landscape, globally, not just here in Canada, right? Especially if your lens is bigger than Canada, which mine is. And so what we learned was, yes, this threat potentially is imminent, but it's probably going to be a year or two before it really rolls out. So we had a bit of runway, right? So we could sit back and breathe and formulate a proper strategy to, to manage it, right? And roll it out effectively across the organization. So I think again, back to what I started with, it's really a cultural item, it's really about getting together, having a, having a mechanism where people can get feedback, where you have your finger on the pulse within the industry, where you can really assess it and investigate the right strategy to move forward. That's really the critical item there.
Student Question
Thanks for talking to us, Chris.
Chris Misch
Pleasure
Student Question
What is your advice for pitching a capital intensive business, especially in the early days?
Chris Misch
I have one of those diseases, I think, where I enjoy pitching, and I don't know if there's anyone like, you know, is there anyone in the room that likes to pitch or do presentations? I kind of dig it. So it's weird. But, you know, like anything, and I think there's a learning there, if you guys fear anything in your life, right? Conquer it by just doing it. You know, honest to God, like, I've done hundreds of pitches, sometimes in an elevator, sometimes at a Starbucks, sometimes in front of a bunch of Harvard MBAs that represent an investment banking firm, right? And it can be very, very challenging. So you have to know your stuff inside and out. So I'll tell you that the key to pitching, number one, you have to have a rock solid business plan. And what I mean by rock solid, I mean, I should be able to sit in a room comfortably with those Harvard MBAs or whoever's around, Ivey MBAs, maybe that's more appropriate. Ivey MBAs, I said Harvard because I actually was in a room with a bunch of Harvard MBAs. And, the reality is, you need to know your business better than anyone. Right? Um, you need to know the modeling. Sometimes they'll sometimes they'll dig into a very granular item, you know, they'll go, "Hey, I pulled up your Excel spreadsheet, you know, your third model, and line 52 cross 45 says," and you're going "whoa," right? So you really have to understand it, the granularity within your modeling, because they want to know that you, as the CEO, can answer those questions, you can't deflect, right? And you can't go, "Let me look that up, I'll get back to you." That's not the right answer. So having it packaged properly, is also very important. And a lot of times, you can leverage your investment bankers, your, the people helping you with the capital raise, whether it's, you know, a VA firm, or whoever it is, could be a private equity group that's interested in you. But you want to find the right people to do the heavy lifting, build a rock solid model, but be able to backup your assumptions, right? Your basal assumptions are so key. So making sure that, that is bulletproof. And then when you walk in the room, you want to exude confidence, win or lose, you're gonna leave that room still feeling as confident as when you came into it. Even if, even if you come out with a few scratches and a few bruises. Right? A great presentation is always key. But don't make it death by PowerPoint. Okay, well let the professor's do that. You know, sometimes that's a little death by PowerPoint. But the reality is, package the deal so that when they leave, they go, "Why wouldn't we invest in that guy?" Because I'll tell you, a lot of it is not about the product or service, it's about you. It's about the company that you're presenting. It's not necessarily always a service or product.
Student Question
Thanks, Chris. What I wanted to ask you was, when you're structuring your company, how do you do so in a way that allows you to scale while also many mitigating the complexity that comes with that so your job doesn't take up, you know, more and more time?
You
Chris Misch
You know, I think a lot of companies and a lot of entrepreneurs start, like look at Amazon, right? Some of that, you know, we all got started in a garage or basement, a Starbucks a napkin sleeve. We all start somewhere, right? And I think corporate structure is the last thing you think about, isn't it? I mean, really, at the end of the day, it could just be the guy or the lady or whoever it is beside you, that you're, you know, "Hey, let's do this, right, let's, let's, let's start a business around this." And you don't think about corporate structure. You don't think about governance, you don't think about the legality around that. So in hindsight, I think we did an okay job, because I had the academics, right? That's why you go to school guys, because you want to have that foundation. So when you go into those discussions, or you want to start a business, you know, you know, the right things to consider before you get started. So we started a federal corporation, right? You know, like, a lot of times people will start a sole proprietorship, because it's easy, or maybe it's a limited partnership of some type. But they all have their pluses and negatives, right? So I think you have to think about the dream. First and foremost, dream big, because the worst thing can happen is a small dream comes to reality. Right? That's my, that's my case. Which is still a good thing, right? So think about where you're going to be in 10 years, maybe five, but five to 10 years. And if it's, what I thought was, "Hey, I'm going to be everywhere in Canada, I want to be everywhere. I want Canadians to touch my stuff everywhere they go." So I needed a company that had that, that view, and I put a legal structure in place around that to support it. And I think that's really the the key there.
Student Question
I guess this is more focused specifically on the adoption of EVs across Ontario, rather than entrepreneurship if that's okay?
Chris Misch
Okay. Yeah.
Student Question
I guess like, like, what I was thinking about, like, for EV adoption is, for example, on the, on the En Routes on the 401, rather than the gas stations you'd have, you'd have EV chargers, ideally, as everyone adopts it. I guess my kind of question is, is, how could we convince the government to kind of invest in rejigging the electrical grid to, I guess, be able to handle all this, right? Because, yeah, the through foot, we would be so much, especially on the 401. It's like, will this involve kind of something like a battery buffer charging solution to ensure that like, during peak demand we have that stuff. Would it involve further, incentivizing people charging during like non peak hours, like, like, how do you think you could we could go about that and make it work?
Chris Misch
You know, Ontario, has waned, as it's been lagging. I'm not gonna lie. You know, from my point of view, right. We have not been first out of the gate to deal with some significant issues around, you know, just really embracing EV adoption. We haven't done a great job. You know, we had some incentives out there initially, the previous government that, unfortunately, are not not in place anymore to help support drive, EV adoption. I think there's a lot of great activity around education happening in the space, but I think we need to model the best in the world. And I think that's, that's what I encouraged the entire government to look at is, you know, look at Scandinavia, look what's happening in Norway and Iceland and Sweden, Finland, those countries because, you know, they have 90%, EV adoption rates, right? Like flying into Norway, you know, you go to Oslo. And if you're driving a gas car, you stand out like a sore thumb, like, honestly. But they have a robust, very comprehensive charging network. They're 100% renewable energy, right? They've got integrated battery storage solutions. They've got off peak, on peak demand structures, they've got utility engagement. So we need to do a better job modeling in Ontario, just thinking of Ontario, I think we do better in British Columbia, we do better in Quebec. We, not in Ontario. So I think there's there's a lot of work to be done there, you know. And, and the utility side of it is a big is a big bottleneck. I'll be honest with you. We just built a million dollar site up in an underserviced area, a place that I love, Tobermory. Anyone been to Tobermory? Man, it's beautiful up there, right? Primo, kayaking, all that good stuff. Diving. Anyway, we built a super charging site there. Why? Because it's a gateway and we'd like to serve underserved areas, and I know that region well. But we have major utility problems up there, not protecting the infrastructure needed to support and protect that type of large scale deployment. But also demand structures and rate structures don't work necessarily very well. So there's there's some issues there that we have to overcome. And I think it's, it's going to be a, it's going to be a longer path, but hopefully the next few years we're gonna get somewhere.
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