Switching to EV Driving Is Challenging; EV Life Aims To Make It Easy
Next year (2021) is shaping up to be the year of the EV with a tsunami of new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) hitting the market in the next 12 to 18 months. With these new offerings will come a new type of BEV buyer who will need help in navigating the ins and outs of buying and operating their new electric vehicles. A large amount of information is available today that discusses the components of buying and operating a BEV, but this unorganized array of options can leave new buyers confused about what the best BEV is for their needs and what are their buying options.
An Easier Way to Buy an EV
EV Life was created with those buyers in mind. EV Life, which has received a financial boost from the state of California, is an online EV buying platform to help these new buyers shop for EVs, learn about home charging options, calculate range for trips, personalize EV incentives and get concierge buying support through a concise but simple buying service.
Car dealerships, car sites and financing are all designed for the internal combustion engine and require countless hours of disjointed research. There are also EV incentives worth as much as $10,000, but there’s a lot fine of print to read on multiple government websites–and incentives can take up to 12-18 months to recoup post-purchase. EV Life’s founders saw a problem worth solving for the sake of helping you drive better cars that save you more money and meaningfully reduce climate change.
To help first-time EV buyers save time and money, EV Life aims to bring together everything needed to switch from gas to electric vehicles, all in one place.
Everything a new buyer of an electric vehicle needs is in one convenient place to evaluate and choose, finance and take advantage of incentives that make the best sense for them.
Created with the EV Buyer in Mind
EV Life was founded in 2019 with a mission to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. Since then, the company has developed a suite of EV shopping tools at its web platform to give car buyers everything they need to confidently switch from driving a gas vehicle to an electric car.
Government Grant Helps Put Incentives to Work for the EV Buyer
In October 2020, EV Life, announced that it was one of 28 companies to win a CalSEED grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC). EV Life was selected from a competitive pool of over 200 startups based in California.
“The CEC is proud to support these 28 companies who aim to bring new energy solutions from ideas to game-changing innovations that boost the state’s economic recovery and provide benefits to ratepayers,” said Janea A. Scott, Vice Chair of the CEC. “Now more than ever, investing in California’s entrepreneur ecosystem means investing in a resilient clean energy future.
“By turning someone’s post-purchase EV incentives into a down payment, we can significantly reduce the overall size of the loan, making the monthly economics of owning an electric car cheaper than owning a gas car,” said EV Life’s Co-Founder Kevin Favro. “We are honored to have received this CalSEED award and are excited to begin building our incentive-based finance platform that will change the economics of owning an electric car, especially for drivers in disadvantaged communities.”
This new CalSEED grant will fund the development of an EV Climate Loan platform. EV Life’s Climate Loan aims to lower the monthly cost of an EV by up to $200/month. The average California driver qualifies for more than $10,000 in EV rebates and tax credits, but incentives can take 12 to 18 months to recoup post-purchase. EV Life’s platform fills a gap in the EV marketplace by underwriting incentives and using them as a down payment to reduce the overall size of the loan.
The Right EV Buying Program for Today’s EV Moves
Today’s grant funding for the EV Climate Loan builds on a growing movement catalyzing around the benefits of electric vehicle adoption. In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order banning the sale of new gas vehicles by 2035 to help reverse climate change and air pollution in the state. Consumer Reports published a study showing that EVs save drivers more than $1,000 per year in fuel and repair costs versus gasoline vehicles. Also, Tesla and other car makers are seeing battery prices drop faster than expected, and analysts like Bloomberg predict that the upfront price of EVs will be less than gas cars by 2024.
“With the threat of climate change, we can’t afford to wait until 2024 for the purchase price of EVs to be cost-competitive,” says Peter Glenn, EV Life’s Co-Founder. “Particularly with challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic or a potential recession, it’s more critical than ever that we make financing EVs cheaper than gas today. To reach our ambitious goal, we’re developing partnerships with leading automakers, banks and credit unions to ensure that all drivers can access EV Climate Loans at every point of sale.”
Story & photos by Gary Lieber.
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