Could you start off by telling us more about Motiv’s mission and how your work supports clean transportation and clean air efforts in Colorado?

Motiv’s mission is to free commercial fleets from fossil fuels. We deliver on our mission by providing the fleets that serve our communities as the “backbone of urban commerce” a pathway to electrification, including electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, grants and incentives, and more. Our customers deliver life’s essentials: delivery, goods, services, and people while eliminating 100% of tailpipe emissions.

In Colorado, our all-electric vehicles are currently providing emissions-free transportation to towns abundant with wildlife and nature and pre-k education to children in underserved communities. Eliminating tail-pipe emissions helps create a cleaner and healthier Colorado each day.

How do you believe Motiv’s mission and the mission of Drive Clean Colorado support one another?

Just like Drive Clean Colorado, Motiv focuses on helping fleet operators make informed decisions. Since the first Motiv electric school bus was deployed in 2013, we have learned that the pathway to electrification is far more complex than simply buying a truck or bus and requires expertise beyond electric vehicles. Our programs have been designed to address proper vehicle configuration, route planning, charging infrastructure, and driver training, along with incentives and credits.

We work with each of our customers to discover the requirements of the application and design programs that maximize their ability to achieve their sustainability and cleantech goals. We have found that the most critical, and oftentimes most difficult, step toward 100% electrification is getting from 0% to 1% of your fleet operating optimally. Our QuickStart program was designed to help companies take the first step by delivering complete solutions to operate their first 2-5 vehicles. This initial deployment helps our customers to gain understanding and experience while successfully launching their fleet transformation to electric vehicles.

 What’s a current Colorado-based project at Motiv that you’re excited about working on?

We are very excited about our most recent delivery of 2 vehicles to Aspen Meadows Resort. Aspen Meadows is the first resort in Aspen to deploy fully electric, guest transportation shuttles, including trips to and from the Aspen airport. We are thrilled to play a part in their ongoing strategy to be the most sustainable resort in Aspen. We look forward to sharing the performance, financial, and sustainability results that those shuttles deliver.

 Are there any pasts CO projects that you also want to share? Can you give us a description of the project? How did it go?

In July of 2020, Estes Park deployed a Motiv fully electric trolley. Over 23,000 riders have enjoyed the beauty of Estes Park while riding in a zero emissions trolley. In addition to the rider enjoyment, there have been significant sustainability and financial milestones crossed over those 10,000 miles driven.

Estes Park typically spends about $4,000 in gasoline for 70 days of summer service; in comparison, they are only planning to spend about $2,200 to charge the trolley for a whole year, saving 45% on energy costs. There has obviously been a great environmental impact, seeing nearly 120k lbs of tailpipe emissions eliminated since the vehicle’s implementation. Vehicle up time was  93% in the first year of implementation and we are seeing it move up to 97% now. Our ability to provide over-the-air software updates has allowed us to continually improve the reliability of this first trolley and we expect it to continue to perform well.

Could you share more about the Electric Power Intelligent Chassis® (EPIC) family of all-electric chassis? How can these EV platforms be beneficial to different fleets?

Our EPIC family of vehicles is purpose-built to address a wide variety of requirements to drive productivity and profitability for our customers. The Class 4-6 vehicle market is very complex because nearly every application is unique and it almost feels like each vehicle is customized to some extent. While we focus on three iconic platforms of vehicles, we are able to provide solutions across a wide range of industries. Outside of “traditional” delivery trucks and vans, we have delivered trolleys and mobile medical, preschools, and a number of other unique configurations to our customers. At the core of each of our current solutions is Motiv’s 5th generation of fully integrated software, motors, and battery systems that deliver exceptional reliability and proven performance.

 Is there anything else you’d like to discuss that we haven’t gone over?

Over 13 years of experience has taught us the importance of working hand-in-hand with our customers while we help navigate their electrification journey. We realized it’s not just about the vehicle, but also about the complete turnkey solutions our customers need.

Our QuickStart package and Motiv Energy solutions were developed in an effort to relieve our customers of EV fleet transformation pain points. Fleets are looking to simplify the electrification process, and having one company (Motiv) to go to when they need support on any of their fleet sustainability needs helps build confidence in the process and streamline deployments.