SPECTRUM OF SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY INNOVATION

ALEX KOSYAKOV, CEO Natrion

The latest Sparker Pitch Day event, co-hosted with NovAzure, was held on February 9, 2023 and featured 6-up and coming startups representing the spectrum of sustainable mobility innovation.

The online interactive event was moderated by our own Kazuna Yamamoto and NovAzure’s Managing Director Chris Gruen, who both worked to ensure that the most “upvoted” questions were answered immediately; whilst the rest were addressed post-event. This enabled our own Rita Saliba to ensure that the event, which she organized, unfolded with the precision of a Swiss watch.

In keeping with the theme of Major Trends in the industry for this issue of N! INSIDE, we have selected 2 startups – Reefilla & Natrion - to highlight from the Pitch day.

These two disruptors are great examples of the two poles of disruptive Innovation and Invention.

Reefilla

According to McKinsey & Company, charging issues are the top barrier for electric vehicle adoption in the United States1. This is led by slow charging speeds, charger inaccessibility, cost of chargers, and charging variance by vehicles. EV charging infrastructure, often referred to as electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a set of power electronics that safely supply regulated power from the grid or a renewable source of energy to vehicle’s batteries.

As Marco, Co-Founder & Executive Officer of Reefilla explained during his powerful pitch: “You don’t have to look for a charging station anymore.

1. Source: https://www.exro.com/industry-insights/barriers-to-electric-vehicle-adoption-in-2022

Reefilla is the first mobile and predictive charging delivery service for users of electric vehicles (EVs) and operators in the mobility business. It allows you to have your EV charged where and when you want, without breaking your routine.”

Find out more @: https://www.reefilla.com/en

Natrion

Why Don’t EVs Already Use Solid State Batteries?

Solid state batteries already exist, but just in much smaller devices like smartwatches, pacemakers, and RFID tags. The barrier to using them in EVs is primarily that they’re expensive and difficult to produce in a larger size at scale. With battery-powered vehicles already more expensive than gas-powered ones; consumers have little appetite for even pricier vehicles. Longevity is another issue2

Alex, the CEO of Natrion, took everyone on a journey highlighting fire safety risk faced with current

EV batteries due to the use of highly volatile and flammable liquids.

Today Natrion are in the pursuit of an all-solid-state battery platform technology for electric mobility. Natrion develops components for automotive and battery manufacturers that can be rapidly utilized to deploy safe, high-performance all-solid-state rechargeable batteries. These batteries eliminate liquid-state components to improve electric vehicle fire safety, driving range, charge time, and overall lifespan. 

Find out more @: https://www.natrion.co/ solutions/#commercial

If you would like to request to see all 6 pitches, or know more about Sparker and upcoming events, please contact Rita Saliba by email: r.saliba@sparker-hub.com

2. Source: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/what-is-solid-state-battery-for-electric-vehicles

ROBERT ROOS , President of The ProntoNetwork, APSG and President of NEXUS North America

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SOME OF THE MEGATRENDS IN OUR INDUSTRY?

Global is local

Although our ProntoNetwork distributor members compete in the North American market, the reality is that for an educated purchaser of automotive replacement parts, the internet has created an opportunity for buyers (repair facilities or DIY consumers) to shop for parts anywhere in the world to find the parts that fit their needs. So, it’s important for our APSG organization to keep our Members informed and in a competitive position – by knowing the Global Supplier base, the type of quality and brand options that are available, at what cost are they selling it at and is it readily available to our local market. Our goal to is put our distributors in a position to compete in their local markets and minimize the penetration of others from outside of our market. Having a relationship with NEXUS Automotive, our global ITG partner, has improved our ability to keep our distributors informed and competitive.

The evolution of vehicle technology to ADAS and EV’s

Our industry has gone through many transformations over the last 50 years. However, advanced electronic repairs on a vehicle are closing in on the classic foundational engine or brake and chassis replacements at a faster and faster pace. What I take comfort in is that our aftermarket industry looks beyond the challenges that this is causing and sees the opportunities that this is creating for our independent and service chain repair customers. Continuing to push for the highest level of training and education will be extremely important for distributors and service providers. We appreciate the support from our local partner, The Group Training Academy, NEXUS Academy, our global partner, and our Supplier Partners in developing and producing the latest training materials to support the education of our team members and the techni- cian community. We believe that these continued actions will provide ongoing business opportunities for the independent aftermarket – allowing consumers to not only have a choice of where to repair their vehicle, but in also knowing that the job will be done right the first time.

Sustainability is a part of our everyday life

I believe it’s irresponsible of any industry to ignore opportunities to increase awareness on the importance of Sustainability – not just because it has become a political weapon in some instances, but instead because it’s the right thing to do. The Automotive Aftermarket, in some regards has been leading the way. For example, using remanufactured replacement parts has been a way of life for automotive distributors and repair facilities for many years. Now, that’s not going to be the answer for all replacement parts, however, this higher level of responsibility in this area, is forcing manufacturers of new parts to think hard about what they can do to reduce their impact by modifying materials and processes that are best for our environment. I was pleased to hear recently that NEXUS will be hosting its first Climate Day event prior to our N! Business Forum in Montreal and that the North American Auto Care Association is launching a new Sustainability Committee focused at increasing the awareness and to provide guidance to all to encourage best practices in an effort to become more environmentally friendly. 