Meet the Man Behind the EV Wireless Charging Revolution: HEVO Founder & CEO Jeremy McCool

[Transcript]

Jan Griffiths: 00:08

Welcome to the automotive leaders podcast, where we help you prepare for the future by sharing stories, insights and skills from leading voices in the automotive world with a mission to transform this industry together. I'm your host, Jan Griffiths, that passionate, rebellious farmer's daughter from Wales, with over 35 years of experience in our beloved auto industry, and a commitment to empowering fellow leaders to be their best authentic selves. Stay true to yourself, be you and lead with Gravitas, the hallmark of authentic leadership. Let's dive in.

Let's dive in.

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Independence, it's not just how you think but how you act.

Today, we'll get into the mind of a tech CEO who is creating quite a stir in the automotive industry these days. It is Jeremy McCool, and he is the CEO of HEVO, the EV, wireless charging company. That's right, wireless charging, and he is at the forefront of this technology. After this interview, I think you'll agree with me. He is at the forefront of leadership, and what leadership should be in this industry. I wanted to know how did he get started? Did he just wake up one day and come up with this idea for a company? What drives him? And the level of conviction this man has. I warn you, you may never have felt it or experienced it before. I wanted to know what's it like being a CEO of a tech startup coming into the auto industry for the first time when you've never set foot in the industry before in your entire life? What's that look like and feel like? What are some of the challenges? And more importantly, what advice can he give to traditional auto companies out there as we embrace these new technology startups? Jeremy McCool, welcome to the show.

Jeremy 2:44

Thanks for having me, Jan.

Jan Griffiths 2:45

Jeremy, I want to go all the way back with you. Where are you from?

Jeremy 2:51

Yeah, from New Mexico, southern New Mexico in the White Sands area, where the first atomic bombs were tested, and moved from there to the Marshall Islands in Kwajalein were nearby, the first hydrogen bomb was tested, and finished up nearby Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, so many places on the journey, today.

Jan Griffiths: 03:16

College?

Jeremy: 03:17

Oklahoma, and did that at a small liberal arts college where I played football. It was around then that 9-11 happened. So, I then joined the National Guard, and then went into RTC, and then full-time active duty as an officer, but from there on to Savannah, Georgia, and did a time, a little stint in Baghdad for 15 months, and then moved to Brooklyn in 2008. Just in perfect time to catch the storm, the recession starting.

Jan Griffiths: 03:49

Ah, oh, great timing, great timing. Tell me a little bit about this military experience. You were a captain in the US Army?

Jeremy: 03:56

I was. Yeah.

Jan Griffiths: 03:58

What did you learn about leadership? What stands out in your mind from the military experience? Because I will share this with you, I've interviewed two Navy SEALs on the podcast. And I always thought that the military was all about command and control. And basically, you got to do what you're told, you know, shut up and don't think. And, nothing could be further from the truth. After talking to these two Navy SEALs. They talked me through this concept of decentralized command. And I was fascinated then with leadership in the military. So, tell me, what did you learn from your experience in leadership in the military?

Jeremy: 04:34

So, first, in one word, leadership is influence. And what I learned how to do is influence people to do things that were radical. Going to war does not make sense. It really doesn't, when you think of it from a very objective point of view. And putting yourself into that danger doesn't make any sense either. So, you got to learn how to influence people to do things that are really impractical. And not only that, but when bullets are flying, to run towards the bullets, not away from them. And so, a lot of the practical things, and impractical things in leadership is influencing. And so, what I've also learned through the process of being a leader for 20 plus years now in all kinds of forms, is that the more that you are able to influence people to do things that are positive, the more that they're willing to subject themselves to doing things that are unique to them or out of their bounds or out of the box of what they've ever done before. And I think, ultimately, that's what I've learned from the military is how to influence people to do really incredible things that they would have never have thought of doing themselves.

Jan Griffiths: 05:50

And that, of course, is a great leadership, belief and trait to have for the world of being an entrepreneur, right?

Jeremy: 05:56

It is the best single trait. If you can influence people to join, build something together, to get on line with your vision, to move on to the next steps, and go through a lot of different phases of challenges, and unforeseen things that you would never know about until you got there, then you're never going to do it. Because team has everything. Without a team, you cannot do anything. And back in the military days, the single most important factor that made my platoon and everybody around us a success was that people bought into the vision. And then you might think, well, what's the vision of being in war? When you're a military officer on the ground, especially the type of officer I was, I was an infantry officer, you're on the frontline, you're responsible for everything that's happening on a battlefield. And there's more to it than just that. We were trying to help rebuild a nation, not just help kickstart off economic, not just things with sewage systems and central controls around those kinds of things, but just help alleviate some of the bigger problems like energy. People didn't have energy inside their homes more than an hour or two per day, and what that meant to them in terms of their livelihoods and their quality of life. And when you get to witness that firsthand, what you quickly realize is how lucky you've been if you've had it. And then whatever you can do to ensure that you get to continue to have that but also to help other people, I think is what we all inherently have inside of us is how do we help other people get at least to that certain point where they can have freedom. And so, a lot of the work I did, I didn't have a command and control environment where like you said, there was you do what you're told, and you go off and do it. It was never like that; it was me telling my leadership, this is what we're going to do getting there advisement to make sure that we were on the same page, and then putting it to my team leaders or squad leaders and the people that were in the leadership underneath me to go get it done and execute upon it. And so, taking that into the business world and into the business climate, how does that work? Very easily, because now I know how to find something that is unique. I got to find that anomaly, that one thing that's going to change everything. Secondly, to set a vision, create a mission and a purpose around it, create values, and values that other people are willing to also get on with because the company culture is everything. You can build the greatest product in the world. But if you have a terrible company culture, it's going to destroy everything that you've built. And so, all these kinds of lessons were learned very easily, actually, by the training that you go through. And being you know, lockstep with some really, really incredible leaders. I've learned more from people that I supervised in many, many ways than I ever did from people that I've reported to. And that's I think the case for what the military does represent is that you learn so much from the people that are reporting up to you. And yes, of course, you can be tutored and have an arm around your shoulder whenever you need it from your supervisors. But they're not really there to do that. That's what your teams do for you.

Jan Griffiths: 09:24

That background certainly sets you up well for the world of entrepreneurship. So, take us back to the very beginning. When did you get that inkling that there is an entrepreneur in you somewhere?

Jeremy: 09:35

I honestly feel like I was born with it. Since I can remember, my earliest memories have been me figuring out how to make money and figuring out how to get other people to buy products from me one way or another. So, I started working when I was seven; I had a paper route. I had the largest paper route in the entire community. I used that then to begin trying to solicit lawn mowing services to the people I was delivering these newspapers to, and it worked. And every single week I had a client tell us that you couldn't imagine for a young person of that age; I had hundreds, hundreds of people that wanted me to mow their lawns every single week when I had to hire people, and I had to have resources and had to figure out how to budget, and I actually ended up having to do file for a small business license because I was making so much money. And at that location, when I was like eight years old,

Jan Griffiths: 10:36

Oh my gosh!

Jeremy: 10:38

Yeah. And then I took that money. So I had these two revenue streams, and I was taking that money, and then realized that I had this interesting opportunity there was at that time; baseball cards, comic books, and Nintendo games were the rage. And these were highly sought-after collector items by all these kids that didn't have access to it because we just simply didn't have the ability to go and buy it. But I figured out how to go buy them and be able to bring them in and, in fact, import them in. And so, I was taking this money and then reinvesting it into these collectibles, and my margins on my returns for these collectibles were three, four, or five times over whatever I was paying for it. So, I started to turn that over. And so I had these three revenue streams as a child, and I was making, by the hour, much more money than my parents were.

Jan Griffiths: 11:31

That's incredible.

Jeremy: 11:34

Yeah. And so, I use that to start things. Later on in life, I had this really great early entrepreneurial journey that kick-started what I knew innately was inside of me, which is that I could build companies, I could hire people, I could manage budgets, I knew how to find margin, I knew how to create marketing schemes and tactics that would make people want it, and where to go with the product. So product market fit and all these things, we just didn't have the terms like we do today. Right? It was a little bit different back then. But then, when I turned 20, I got right back into and I started a personal training business. And I was a manager of a gym. And I had a whole crew of people that I was managing at 20 years old, I wasn't even legally able to buy alcohol, but I could, you know, train people to train other people. And so I started this new version of entrepreneurship for me, which was becoming more of a coaching type of leader. And so from there, my next journey would have 100% gone into business again had there not been a 9-11 situation, which then all my brothers and I, we joined around the same time. So we all jumped in; I was in the army, my middle brother went into the Coast Guard, and my youngest brother went into the Air Force. And we felt very convicted to go do something for our country at that moment.

Jan Griffiths: 13:01

And it was 9-11 that triggered that for you.

Jeremy: 13:04

Oh yes, without a doubt. I remember waking up. And that morning, and I was training somebody who's still a mentor of mine today. And we were watching in Oklahoma City, we were watching this unfold in front of us, and I had to get in a car and drive back to my university. And when I drove to my university, I couldn't believe it. Everybody was standing around watching TVs and we were watching history unfold in front of us, right, just like everybody else around the world. And I just knew immediately then, it wasn't even a second question that I was going to try to sign up. And it was so many of us that tried to do it all at one time that I got pushed to the back of the line. So, they told me Look, you don't get a chance of getting in. Right now, you need to go probably to something like the National Guard and start there and then wait for your turn. And so, I did that. And I went to RTC and I was playing football in college too. So I wanted to continue with school as much as I could finish that off, finished my last couple of years of playing football in college and then be able to get in so it worked out. But if I had my way, I would have gone in immediately on September 12. So couldn't do it. It worked out in its own strange way. But that's what I intended to do. And I went forward with it.

Jan Griffiths: 14:20

That tells me that you're the kind of person when you commit to something, you're in.

Jeremy: 14:25

Yes.

Jan Griffiths: 14:27

I can see that. Whether it's cutting lawns, training people in a gym, or being in the military, whatever it is, you are in, you have conviction.

Jeremy: 14:37

It comes from my father and my mother, thank God. They put that that type of behavior that personality, training into my brothers and I, we all are very convicted people. When we when we get on board with something we go all in, and we don't give up on it until we've seen it all the way through. And, you know, I felt of all the things that I had in life that gave me maybe a leg up the most important part was having two really incredible parents that was there as coaches along the way and helping us to become young men. And then later on to become, you know, active human adults and society and we lost our father very, very early in our lives. On top of that. I lost him when I was 19. My brother, my brothers were even younger 16 and 14 And so I had to step into this role, not as a father, but needed to step into maturity much faster because of that. And what it really left me with was, I felt very deeply about how we all came out of that situation and wasn't just trying to find our own place in the world, but helping each other to get into the next stage of life. And we all have been very successful in our own ways. And I think it's it goes back; we just had a real luck of the draw scenario with having great parents. We were not brought up with much, we had to go earn it. And so, we had these really great principled types of upbringing that was unique.

Jan Griffiths: 16:15

This idea of conviction, conviction to your beliefs, is quite possibly one of the most important leadership traits because people feel that it's not something that you learn, it's who you are, it's authentic leadership at its core. And when you feel that you are all in on a business, a vision, a product, whatever it is, people know that people sense that. And they're much more likely to get on board with that. And it doesn't matter if you have all the skill set, so you know what you're getting into, or not, you don't have to have all the competencies. When you've got that conviction, then you'll find the right people, and you'll bring the right skill sets and you will make it happen. Tell me then, what happened with HEVO? How did you get this conviction behind the purpose for the product?

Jeremy: 17:17

Wow, that is really interesting story because I became a CEO of a wireless EV charging company, purely because I didn't want to do anything else on the planet. It was the single one thing that I saw. That would make me very, very happy to do every single day. And it lined up directly with what I was already aligned with in terms of the purpose and the mission, which was to electrify transportation, to radically reduce our reliance on foreign and fossil fuels, and to improve the state of all lice liveability. And I know that sounds crazy as a huge sum. Because when I started this company, there was like less than 20,000 electric cars on the roads at that point around the world. And I was very trying to solve a problem 10 years ahead of what everybody else would ever think about a visit problem, which was these are going to have a real problem with plugging in. And so the reason why HEVO was started, to back it up a little bit was that while I was in Baghdad, one of the many hats I had to wear was trying to figure out how to bring the grid back to the neighborhoods that I was responsible for. And that's really a unique challenge, especially when we were the ones that were responsible. Not my platoon, our company, but the US Army was responsible for blowing up those power plants in the first place, and destroying them. As I started to trace it back. I spent two weeks trying to figure this out. And I kept on coming back to this problem. Every time we put up power lines, people would rip the power lines down and strip the copper and sell the copper. Why? Because they didn't have any way to make any money. Why? Because they didn't have any electricity to run businesses. And so what I kind of figured out was there was human psychology being played at work with this situation, which was they were taking the copper out of the main power lines because it wasn't in their backyard. But as soon as we started to then bring local generated power into their neighborhoods, we didn't have to do anything overnight. All sudden, there would be hundreds, if not even 1000s of connected cables to it. And people would be powering their homes. No way to tell how much power one home was using versus the other. But at least people have power in their homes. And then all the other kinds of markers started to show when people went from having one or two hours of power per day. To all sudden 12 hours of power per day. They were less likely to come out and try to injure us or injure their neighbors or other people or that they had problems with, once it got to 18 hours of power guaranteed that the economies would return to those neighborhoods. And then I'll send people had money, and they didn't want to be part of insurgencies anymore. And so, what I found real quick with this was that energy has might, but here was the problem. We were also causing epidemiological problems and respiratory illnesses, because of all the CIT coming off of these generators, because it was diesel generated. And all sudden, these hospitals started filling up with children and older people that had respiratory illnesses. And the chief surgeons and everybody started reaching out to me and saying, Hey, we got to fix this problem. And it looks like it's being caused by these generators. And I, so I went back with our teams and looked at it. And sure enough, that was what was going on. So we took those generators and put them outside of the neighborhoods, warm them up, but then I start to think about it from a more macro sense, well, this is what's happening around the world. We're quite literally doing this to the entire planet. And we don't want to do it, I don't think anybody in their right mind would say, Yeah, I would love to pollute the planet. You know, that doesn't make any sense. But we have no other choice, because this is what we have, at least at that moment of what we had, there wasn't technology out there that had yet existed. That would make it easy to go all renewable, and with a price point that everybody could get behind, and also to electrify transportation, but people had to make the decision to do it. And those are the people with the true conviction. Because I came in even a couple of years after all those people had already started, they had already set the table. But because they had set the table, they also got to make the rules. Except for this. This was that one thing that they didn't get to make the rules about. And I thought that was pretty cool. I thought that was really cool. I wanted to try something that nobody else had thought about, or was really given a real shot to at that point, I saw an opening, I saw an opportunity. And it's just as I've always been in in terms of an entrepreneur. I mean, even when I was in the military, when I see something that I can get fully behind, I jumped in. And I did that. And so you know, over 10 years later, we're now one of the leading wireless EV charging companies in the world, we've got one of the biggest automakers that have recently signed up with us to partner on the development of wireless EV charging, and a few other announcements that come as well. But this thing is finally moving forward. And it's taken his time. But I've also been able to apply patients to it because we've had a great team around us.

Jan Griffiths: 22:33

That's a wonderful story as to your why, as to why you're doing this. But what I'm not clear on is why you chose the why you chose wireless charging. Now I understand the the energy side of it, why not an EV? Why not a vehicle? You know, why not? Why not electric vehicle? What? Why did you focus in on charging?

Jeremy: 22:57

I really like the idea of power, being connected to something that's transmitting that power, and being part of the entire ecosystem. And then I knew there was gonna be an evolution to this; we can't go with just generational products that don't make it. We never do that as a society. And if we looked at how things were starting to change over that period of time, everything was starting to go wireless, anyway. We had gone to smartphones; we had gone to Wi-Fi, and we had already started to proliferate the idea of wireless charging for mobile devices. I just saw it as an opportunity that was different than anything else that anybody else was putting their energy into and to get to the exact why. I started to go out and interview potential customers on the fleet side, especially fleets such as Pepsi Cola and Frito-lay Fresh Direct, who were adopting electric vehicles into their delivery vans and truck fleets. They're having one issue across the board; everybody complained about plugging in every single one of them. And I would walk around these fleet yards, and they would let me in. I was a grad student at Columbia University focused on wireless EV charging as my personal focus. I would use that to help me get a door open to some of these companies that were starting to electrify their fleets. And then I would go study it, and I would go okay, this is interesting. Everybody has the same problem. These cords, whether it's an OSHA standard problem where they've got cords laying around the ground, and they can't do that, you know, that's a safety problem. Or they had a generational challenge with union labor that, okay, they can't plug it in, because it's not part of the union labor contract requirements. Or some other things like just backing up and running over the cords and all the additional costs that are coming with that and I even saw some challenges with when they would plug in the vehicle. There would be people who would think that they were charging and walk away, and minutes later, the charging would just stop; they wouldn't know why. And they didn't even know it happened. And then it come back and the vehicles won't be charged. And then there was this additional problem, when some of these vehicles would be plugged in with these cables, they would arc, and then these little arcs over time would burn out the the receptor on the vehicle side, and then create $13-14-5,000 problems for them all sudden, because they had to replace all this equipment on the vehicle. And, so, I started to study the TCO and figured out real quick that this is a problem long term that is going to have overwhelmed cost on all their operations period. And they know it, and they're already experiencing it. And it's a massive headache. Because 70% of the time, these fleet managers have to stay extra after work to go plug in the vehicles because people forgot to plug in all kinds of problems like this. So I started asking this simple question: what would make this better? And they would tell me no plug, no plug, no plug. I said all right. That means wireless. Let me go check that out real quick. So, I went and looked it up. There are a couple companies out there, sort of working on wireless sort of thinking about EVs. I even visited a couple of my competitors back then just to see what they were up to. Cool technology, very lab focused, no vision about how this could become a product, no vision in terms of product-market fit, and customer focus or anything of that nature. And I said, Wow, all right. These people figured it out. I think I can, too. And that is the most naive decision I've ever made in my life, that one single decision. Because there was no way I should have ever thought about that decision. I didn't have anything, I didn't have any resources. I was not an engineer. I didn't have money, didn't have investors lining up, didn't have a team didn't have anything. I just thought you know what, I see what these guys have. I think I can do better. That was that was the answer. So then I came back to the fleet's. And I said, Hey, what do you think about wireless, every single one, like a light bulb over their heads, and they would get so excited about it, so you can see it, it was visible, they would get so excited about it, the way that they would speak the way that their nonverbal cues would would also speak for them. And I said, Alright, this is really something that we need to do I need to do. That's really what elevated this in my mind was that I saw how people were responding to it. It was a partly magic. But secondly, it was possible. And I felt that I could do it.

Jan Griffiths: 27:36

And with the commitment that you have, here we are today and you're doing it.

Jeremy: 27:41

Conviction is what drives everything.

Jan Griffiths: 27:43

That's right. So you've never worked a day in your life in the automotive industry. And here you are, you've got this great idea. You start a company, you started it in Brooklyn, correct?

Jeremy: 27:54

Actually, I started it technically in New York at Columbia University. Okay, so the first day I ever pitched it was in a class. And I just remember looking at everybody's faces. When I got done talking about how I was going to revolutionize EVs through wireless charging. Some people thought it was brilliant. Most people thought I was out of my mind. And I would say if I would have pulled everybody if I had the chance to do that. Not one of them would ever thought I would ever make it happen.

Jan Griffiths: 28:29

So, you start the company. You've talked to your potential customers, essentially, right? You've got some intel. But you got to break into the auto manufacturers. And then, you, I'm assuming at some point you head to Detroit; I wanted no unfiltered raw, give it to a straight Jeremy, what was it like as a startup, coming into Detroit and starting to talk to some of the OEMs? What did that look like and feel like to you?

Jeremy: 29:01

Felt antiquated, Because when I first started trying to go to Detroit to pitch HEVO, people didn't even believe in electric vehicles. At the automotive companies were talking, you know, eight 910 years ago, right. And here I am trying to convince them to do something with wireless charging when they're not even convinced that electric cars are something they need to be involved with. And I can understand why. Frankly, at that time, there was no reason for them to go. We need to get into this and get into it now. But about three years ago whenever the pandemic started, and they start to see the rise of electric vehicles, from other companies, not just Tesla, but all these other companies elucidates and the reviens of the world. They had no choice. They either change now, or they die. So they had to adapt or die. And that's when it started to change. But before, that was very antiquated it was, it was very hard to even get a get on a phone with somebody get turned to somebody else, and then somebody else, and then, somebody else. So it took time, I can understand why did. But now it's a different story. We're still having some challenges with automakers understanding why wireless to a degree or I'd even say they understand wireless now will be part of the game. But the when, and the who in the form of the customer will be the first to get it from their point of view. So that's why we've really been focused on fleet, because it helps to cure all those questionable challenges, why? You get a big fleet to jump on board with you. And to get to an agreement, they're going to help to push the automaker and create pull within the automotive companies to get on board with wireless charging, because they need it every single day. We are on the phone with fleets every single day telling us that they need wireless charging to date. And so that helps us as a team, with our customers to go to these automakers and say these are the kinds of cars that they want, these are the vehicles that they want. And you can provide to that with wireless charging. And if you do, you'll meet the requirements. And so we're getting to a point now where there's big fleets that are going to be doing RFIs and RF cues for wireless charging, that's great news. And then at the same time, some of these automakers want to get ahead. And they're able to do that technologically like they've not been able to do for 100 years think of, you we're in the automotive business, you know this, the automotive business for 60 plus years was all about creature features. And so that now has changed. You can actually do something radical with technology today that you've never been able to do as an automaker, you can now become a technology company. And so many of them are moving away from the idea of even personal ownership of cars, and thinking about the bigger bigger opportunities. So, to answer your question, yes, antiquated and hard. But the doors are now opening, automakers now understand that they can get ahead, they can leap ahead with new technologies and innovations like they've never been able to do before. And wireless charging won't be that next innovation. That gives them something that is differentiated from any other other competitors. And they understand that.

Jan Griffiths: 32:42

That's good. Now, when you're working with, I will say, a traditional OEM, somebody that comes from a traditional auto background to a new EV company. What are some of the differences when you're dealing with two of those, both of those different types of companies? What I'm trying to get to is, what can the traditional auto companies learn from a startup? Who's trying to get into these traditional auto companies? What advice would you give traditional auto companies as they learn to engage with startups, startup technology companies who are perhaps not familiar with the old automotive way of doing business in the automotive rule book? What advice would you give them? Because you've been through the process? Now, you've spent many years doing this? What advice would you give them?

Jeremy: 33:34

First, I would tell them that they're going to have to help coach the companies along. And that means helping them to understand what is the process that they need to go through, who's a key point of context that they need to be engaged with, and how to navigate it. One of the things that we learned that was actually different than any other way that we've experienced it is when it comes to automakers, you have to socialize the idea amongst so many different other parties that are not the decision-makers ahead of getting to the decision-makers. That sounds different than any other kind of way that you would do business. Typically, I can go to a fleet or to another partner; I have a meeting with the CEO, typically. We have one or two chats maximum, and then we're going forward with some kind of MOU or an agreement that does not work that way with automotive. You got to find people that are willing to be friends to you first. And then you got to figure out how does the mapping work of these organizations. They're huge. And they're constantly turning over right now in the form of change of organization reordering all these things. So you're, even if you found the right person, they might not actually be the person tomorrow. And so finding a key person to come into your team to help lead you through that process, that's an insider, is the best single thing that you can do as a small company from the automaker's side of it, is trying to find a process that works incrementally up a chain that people can follow. Because otherwise, it's easy to get lost in the process of figuring it out. You got to go talk to the engineering and those teams first, then you talk to the business teams, then you talk to the purchasing teams, then you talk to the product teams. And then by the time you're getting to the decision-makers, if you haven't talked to the six to 10 people that influence the decision. If you talk to the leader too quick, that could actually make that decision. When they come back and ask their next reports down. You know, what is this wireless EV charging or whatever product it might be? If they don't know what it is, their reaction is going to be? Well, I don't know what it is. So it doesn't matter. And that's the way the business works. And so if you're not able to figure that out, if you're not able to navigate it, then there's always going to be a massive gap between innovation and the big companies ability to adopt it in. One last thing I would say is I would just tell the leaders of these big automaker groups, that there's a lot of opportunities sitting in your own laboratories that you're sponsoring. Were part of the Detroit smart parking lab. There's a handful of companies in there I have yet to see a major automaker CEO or C suite person come into those facilities. Yeah.

Jan Griffiths: 36:49

We're still operating in silos, aren't we? There's still very much product engineering, manufacturing, engineering, and purchasing it. And from what I'm hearing is that you've got to navigate all of those silos carefully before you get to the decision-maker.

Jeremy: 37:05

And be a consultative supplier to degree as well. So when you finally find the gaps and the bumps in the road that are causing problems, you can't just run in and go, Okay, well, you guys are wrong in your thinking; that's not the right way to do things, you got to help encourage the decision. And then if you see a gap, even provide resources, in the form of even people to help move that along. And so these are things that you don't just walk into without an automotive background. And having, even, I would say people that are automotive inside our company, not a lot of them have experienced the totality of what it takes to do something like this. And so we had to go find somebody that has gone through that whole process many, many, many times. And thankfully, we did. But it's still a process, and it does not take months; it takes years. That's one thing that that people have to understand. It takes years to be able to do something like this with an automaker.

Jan Griffiths: 38:06

It takes years to get through to a traditional automaker. What I heard you say is that if you're dealing with a more technology focused company, or an EV company that comes from a technology background, you meet with a couple of key decision makers, you sign an MOU and either it's a goal or it isn't.

Jeremy: 38:24

Pretty much. The development work. For earning that relationship to get there. It's going to cost a lot and resources in specifically time. So it's gonna take a moment to figure it out as you go forward. And each automaker operates a little bit differently. There's no way that's exactly the same.

Jan Griffiths: 38:46

Yeah.

Jeremy: 38:46

And so, there are some things that you can borrow, but you you can't always apply it directly the same way. So we've been learning a lot over the last decade and how to do this, we think we found the right ingredients. And we're working with the right people to do it. And we've got the right team. But it took a long time and a journey to get there because we just never had experienced it. And now we're in a position that is much different.

Jan Griffiths: 39:12

You're partnering with a major OEM right now. And it is not the OEM that I thought it would be. So, kudos to them and to you for making it happen. And they're the first of many, I hope.

Jeremy: 39:23

I could tell you that they are the first of many. And we do know that news is reverberating. We know that other automakers are having to talk about this now in a way that they never had to talk about it. And in they're hearing it from their customers and other people that they want the wireless charging. So we know it's not going to be an industry of one company. There are other companies out here doing this, not just HEVO, and we're glad we want that to happen, obviously. We still want to be the leader. That's our focus. We've got our determination now and our destiny that we're trying to achieve. But at the end of the day, there's going to be a handful of companies that are going to be able to provide this in different kinds of formats to automakers very, very soon. And competitively. That means then this gets really interesting, all sudden. Automakers are going to have the ability to select from multiple suppliers for wireless Evie charging. And by the way, the one unique thing about wireless charging that makes it supreme, above and beyond anything that you can get with plug in charging, is that it's universal. Just like the Qi standard, wireless EV charging, which is the SAE standard, brings universality to it. And we're working with a company that is quite definitively responsible for so much of the development of those universal standards through SAE that had been approved. And so this is a massive proof point. Right now, what HEVO was going through with our partner, Stellantis, on wireless EV charging. And when we come out of the other side of this, we're going to have great detailed data to support whatever is the final requirements for final universal adoption. You should be able to as a driver, drive anywhere and park over a wireless charging pad with anybody's equipment and charge automatically without any other requirements to the user experience.

Jan Griffiths: 41:35

Wow, that's incredible. The company name Jeremy, where did that come from?

Jeremy: 41:40

I really like two syllable words for names. I think that's really important it and I wanted something that had strength in the name, something that had a strong ending, and a punch. And so, Hybrid Electric Vehicle Optimization is the actual full name. But the acronym is HEVO. And I would tell you that we have looked at all kinds of different brands and branding names, and did a lot of work on trying to figure out if that was a word that people would be willing to recognize and use over and over. And what we hear a lot is that people that have never probably ever heard of it, have heard of it. So it has this kind of name value that people feel like they've heard of before. And that's what we wanted it to be, we want it to be something that felt like is already in existence. And not something that had never existed before.

Jan Griffiths: 42:37

And your values follow suit with it, right?

Jeremy: 42:40

Certainly does. So honesty, empathy, vision, and optimism are our four core values. And it's also the four core products that we offer, which are the H, E, V, and O series, home, every day, vehicle to grid, and omni. These different naming groups we've connected back to our name; everything is built around that brand.

Jan Griffiths: 43:01

I love that because brand is identity, and identity drives behavior.

Jeremy: 43:06

And we believe that 100%. And we believe that your identity is created by your habits. If that's true, then we all believe it is then honesty, empathy, vision, and optimism has to be innate to those habits. And that helps to drive the discipline because there is a specific vision, a very deep focus on tackling the problems with our current customer groups, but logistics and transit and accessibility groups. And so in order for us to do that and do it successfully, we have to have conviction behind the brand, and the behavior and the habits that that are our self-identification.

Jan Griffiths: 43:50

Jeremy, it's obvious you are indeed an authentic leader of the 21 traits of authentic leadership. Give me your top two; what resonates with you the most and why?

Jeremy: 44:01

I say vision and accountability. Those two to me had to align. If they don't, then you're not gonna be focused, you're not going to be able to build a team and have unification, solidarity around that purpose. And then at the end of the day, if there's no way for you to be able to draw upon the things that you've learned along that path, and have some self-retrospective type of interaction and go back in and think through those processes, and those things you've learned, then everything else is just gonna fall apart. So, I think if you can see it from a point of view of accountability, I think measures up. It's a measuring tool. And it allows you to know if you're dealing with somebody who has some form of emotional quotient, an EQ, and, and a way to be able to account for not only themselves, but also know how to then account for the purpose of the company and drive it towards something very specific in a form of division. So, I really believe those two things are the single two that I would select among those.

Jan Griffiths: 45:22

Yeah, you're right, because you can't have one without the other. And I think that's where a lot of leaders struggle is getting that balance. And I interviewed Doug Conant, who's the former CEO, Campbell's Soup Company, he turned around the Campbell Soup Company, and he has a say, and he says, you've got to be tough on standards, and kind hearted with people. And you can't do one without the other. You got to have both. And of course, you know, wrapping all that up in vision is the path to successful leadership. Okay, well, thank you. Now, let's get to the fun stuff, shall we? Are we ready? Personal stuff.

Jeremy: 45:57

Ready to go.

Jan Griffiths: 45:58

Okay. Music genre, favorite music genre? What do you like?

Jeremy: 46:04

Old-school hip-hop,

Jan Griffiths: 46:05

The last band, you saw live?

Jeremy: 46:08

Yeah, that's an interesting question. Going to live concerts recently hasn't been the easiest.

Jan Griffiths: 46:12

I know. I know. Okay, most memorable, then most memorable, concert you've ever been to in your life?

Jeremy: 46:22

I've gone to a handful of ones that would stand out. But I think I would probably elect Run-D.M.C.

Jan Griffiths: 46:31

Oh, you did. I wish I'd got to see them dance.

Jeremy: 46:33

I got to see all of them together. And it was really incredible because it was one of their last shows, all together. And so that one and a few other ones, too. But that one was remarkable. In the military, they would bring people to serenade soldiers all the time. So those things are always kind of more remarkable, because you're with people that you're doing something really interesting with in life, and then there's people singing on the stage to you. However, I would also say that there are a couple of shows that I've wished I'd been able to go see, and I have just never been able to pull it off like The Stones. I would love to see The Stones.

Jan Griffiths: 47:15

You spend a lot of time in Detroit. Favorite restaurant in Detroit. Got one?

Jeremy: 47:21

Leila's

Jan Griffiths: 47:23

Oh, yes. Yes, me too.

Jeremy: 47:25

I think Leila's is the best.

Jan Griffiths: 47:27

Yes, I like Leila's, too. Yeah. That's a sister restaurant to Phoenicia in Beverly.

Jeremy: 47:33

Yeah, I've been to both. And I'd like Phoenicia. But I actually like Leila's a little bit better. I think the ambiance of it is perfect Detroit. Anyways, it's got everybody in there that you could ever imagine. I also like to go into some of the other things that are off the beaten path a little bit, like Carl's.

Jan Griffiths: 47:51

Yes.

Jeremy: 47:52

It's just interesting. You walk into what looks like a very old-school diner that's been, you know, jammed up a little bit. And they serve you pancakes that you can never finish. It's pretty remarkable. I love food. So, I've beaten down a lot of the paths in Detroit already, thankfully.

Jan Griffiths: 48:13

Number one hobby would you like to do when you're not working?

Jeremy: 48:15

I love reading; I do a lot of reading. I am stubbornly focused always on things like my personal fitness. Every morning, almost every single morning, I'm up before breaking dawn, exercising, doing things. I do a lot of Pilates and yoga these days. But when I was younger, was more than the high intensity of athleticism. But without a doubt, traveling is my passion. So, I love going to new places. I love trying new types of foods, and meeting people of new cultures; I've lived all around the world and had the chance to see some really incredible places in my life. I will say this: I'm unabashedly a very pro-American person. And everybody that knows me knows that. But I genuinely love everybody that I get the chance to break bread with and have a beer with. And I've been able to do that around the world. If I had my choice, I would travel for leisure every week, and go eat food from a different part of the world every day if I could.

Jan Griffiths: 49:32

How do you set your day up for success? What are some of the habits that you've got other than working out in the morning to get your head in the right place to make sure you have a successful day? Any tips or tricks you can share with people?

Jeremy: 49:44

I've made my life super-efficient. The efficiency of my life is remarkable. I know. I live in a very lucky kind of existence where every day, I wake up in an apartment I'll have that's only a 15 to 20-minute walk away from my work. I can jump on a local city bike and cruise around town at any point. I am in the midst of in the heart of some of the best food in all of Brooklyn. And I would even argue and all of New York, people here know me. So, when I go out, I don't get ever get treated by anybody any different than they would treat any of their friends. It's really great. And other than that, the entirety of my life is spent around efficiency. I am constantly trying to find ways to get back my time and to give time back to the people in my company. And so some of the tricks that I've learned to do, and I've also imparted upon our team, is that we try not to do meetings in the afternoon; we have an 80/20 rule. 20% meetings during the week, 80% working on your work, and trying to leave as much as possible that afternoons open so that creativity between the teams can happen. Because if everybody's bound up in a bunch of meetings, guess what? If you're sitting across from somebody, and you can talk with them, it's much different than, Hey, where's Thomas? Hey, where's Samir at? Let's talk about these things. So, we focus around the efficiency of time very, very definitively. And so, everything that I've built around my personal efficiency is about saving time. So, in the morning, I work out in the morning, why? Because I don't want to work out in the evenings, I don't want to spend my time doing that. I'd rather spend my time meeting up with friends, going out and having some, or just relaxing with a book. So, these are some of the meaningful things that I've done to help create some time efficiency. And I would say the last thing is that my time with my family, we've gone through a lot together. And so, when I get my time with my family, I'm not married; I don't have children, but my brothers, their families, and our mother. They all live in Dallas. And so, it's really easy to fly in 15 minutes, equidistant from each other. And I get to see everybody all at one time. So again, it goes back to this time management and efficiency of how I spend my time with people.

Jan Griffiths: 52:16

That's a great tip to share, particularly with our automotive audience. Is there anything, Jeremy, that I should have asked you and didn't?

Jeremy: 52:25

Yes.

Jan Griffiths: 52:26

Go ahead.

Jeremy: 52:28

I think you might want to ask me what vehicle platform we're working on right now with Stellantis.

Jan Griffiths: 52:35

Woah! Do tell! What vehicle platform are you working on?

Jeremy: 52:39

The Pacifica PF.

Jan Griffiths: 52:41

And more to come.

Jeremy: 52:42

And more to come.

Jan Griffiths: 52:44

Well, we wish you every success. You are leading the way from a technology standpoint; from a leadership standpoint, you are helping the industry figure out how to engage with startup companies. And for that, from the bottom of my heart. I thank you and I thank you for your time today, Jeremy McCool. It's been a pleasure.

Jeremy: 53:07

It's always a pleasure, Jan, thank you.

Jan Griffiths: 53:14

Thank you for listening to the Automotive Leaders Podcast. Click the Listen link in the show notes to subscribe for free on your platform of choice. Don't forget to download the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership PDF by clicking on the link below. And remember, stay true to yourself, be you and lead with Gravitas, the hallmark of authentic leadership.