The InEVitable Podcast Episode 36: EVgo Chief Commercial Officer Jonathan Levy
A C-suite exec at one of America’s top charging networks gets a grillin’.
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We've had a lot of super popular guests join us on The InEVitable, such asEpisode 18 featuring Fluffy Iglesias, the superstar actor/comedian who has more than 26 million followers across his various social media accounts. We've also had more than a few folks with a stable of high-powered supercars stop by the pod. But today we bring on a fella who once helped manage over 115,000 employees, a budget of $26 billion dollars, and the powerplants and energy needs of the greatest country in the history of the world. His name is Jonathan Levy. Prior to his current job as the chief commercial officer for EVgo, Levy had a distinguished career in Washington D.C. at the Department of Energy. From 2013 to 2015, he served as the deputy chief of staff for Ernest Moniz, the United States Secretary of Energy at the time.
If you've been a frequent consumer of this vodcast, you'll know that one of host Jonny Lieberman's major beefs is not with EVs, but the state of the chargers that support them.
Outside of Tesla and its proprietary network of fast chargers (called the Supercharger Network), the charging experience across the United States is mixed, at best. Even in densely populated and high traffic California, where EV adoption leads the nation by a huge margin, finding a properly working charger can be a challenge. So who better to have on the show than Levy, who leads the business end of one of the top EV charging networks in the country.
Jonny would have preferred to savage one of EVgo's main rivals (we mention them repeatedly on the podcast), but we'll save that for another day. In Levy we got a positively delightful guest; unflappable, whip smart, and adept at defusing two automotive journalists who are irate about the current state of EV infrastructure. Did Levy have all the answers? No, but he was clearly able to articulate all the key issues and at least explain why we're in the state we are, what needs to happen to improve things, and the solutions being provided by EVgo.
Spoiler alert: We have a long way to go and lot to figure out when it comes to building out a user experience that's as fast and easy as filling-up at your local gas station. That being said, we end the podcast with some practical tips on how to get the most out of your EV charging experienceregardless of which network you use.
Sound interesting? It is! So watch the vodcast right here or on our YouTube channel. If audio is your thing, download the podcast here or wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you like it, please tell your friends, share us on social media, like the video, and don't forget to give us a five-star review. See you next Sunday with another episode of The InEVitable.
I used to go kick tires with my dad at local car dealerships. I was the kid quizzing the sales guys on horsepower and 0-60 times, while Dad wandered around undisturbed. When the salesmen finally cornered him, I'd grab as much of the glossy product literature as I could carry. One that still stands out to this day: the beautiful booklet on the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX that favorably compared it to the Porsches of the era. I would pore over the prose, pictures, specs, trim levels, even the fine print, never once thinking that I might someday be responsible for the asterisked figures "*as tested by Motor Trend magazine." My parents, immigrants from Hong Kong, worked their way from St. Louis, Missouri (where I was born) to sunny Camarillo, California, in the early 1970s. Along the way, Dad managed to get us into some interesting, iconic family vehicles, including a 1973 Super Beetle (first year of the curved windshield!), 1976 Volvo 240, the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic station wagon, and 1984 VW Vanagon. Dad imbued a love of sports cars and fast sedans as well. I remember sitting on the package shelf of his 1981 Mazda RX-7, listening to him explain to my Mom - for Nth time - what made the rotary engine so special. I remember bracing myself for the laggy whoosh of his turbo diesel Mercedes-Benz 300D, and later, his '87 Porsche Turbo. We were a Toyota family in my coming-of-age years. At 15 years and 6 months, I scored 100 percent on my driving license test, behind the wheel of Mom's 1991 Toyota Previa. As a reward, I was handed the keys to my brother's 1986 Celica GT-S. Six months and three speeding tickets later, I was booted off the family insurance policy and into a 1983 Toyota 4x4 (Hilux, baby). It took me through the rest of college and most of my time at USC, where I worked for the Daily Trojan newspaper and graduated with a biology degree and business minor. Cars took a back seat during my stint as a science teacher for Teach for America. I considered a third year of teaching high school science, coaching volleyball, and helping out with the newspaper and yearbook, but after two years of telling teenagers to follow their dreams, when I wasn't following mine, I decided to pursue a career in freelance photography. After starving for 6 months, I was picked up by a tiny tuning magazine in Orange County that was covering "The Fast and the Furious" subculture years before it went mainstream. I went from photographer-for-hire to editor-in-chief in three years, and rewarded myself with a clapped-out 1989 Nissan 240SX. I subsequently picked up a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ60) to haul parts and camera gear. Both vehicles took me to a more mainstream car magazine, where I first sipped from the firehose of press cars. Soon after, the Land Cruiser was abandoned. After a short stint there, I became editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Sport Compact Car just after turning 30. My editorial director at the time was some long-haired dude with a funny accent named Angus MacKenzie. After 18 months learning from the best, Angus asked me to join Motor Trend as senior editor. That was in 2007, and I've loved every second ever since.
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