Last year we gave you an overview and a first look at AMPLY, a company that simplifies the charging process for electric-powered fleet vehicles. A lot has happened with this company since we last chatted in March of 2019. Vic Shao, AMPLY’s CEO, is back to catch us up on how AMPLY helps fleet managers simplify the process to power their electric vehicles and how a few key partnerships impact the growth of the company.
MWS: OUR READERS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED TO AMPLY A YEAR AGO. COULD YOU GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF AMPLY FOR OUR NEW READERS?
SHAO:
AMPLY Power provides Charging-as-a-Service to de-risk and accelerate the adoption of electric buses, trucks, and passenger vehicles by public and private fleets through its simple price-per-mile-driven model. AMPLY provides a fully managed charging solution that enables municipal and commercial fleets to deploy electric vehicles confidently and without hassles. AMPLY handles all aspects of charging operations on behalf of fleet owners, and AMPLY’s charging systems are optimized for the lowest electricity costs.
Fleet operators often cite high cost and complex infrastructure as main deterrents in expanding their electric truck and bus pilots to full deployment. With its Charging-as-a-Service model, AMPLY answers the challenges fleets face while remaining technology agnostic and guarantees electric vehicle uptime for fleets related to charging in exchange for a price-per-mile-driven billing structure.
As the electric utility account holder for its fleet customers, AMPLY provides comprehensive end-to-end services to fleet operators. These include managing operational upgrades and utility interconnections, establishing an optimal charging strategy based on drive cycle and duty cycle, providing debt financing or securing grant funding for reducing capital expenditures, and implementing resilience plans where needed. The company assumes the full financial responsibility of utility account and provides the fleet with pre-negotiated flat usage rates. AMPLY also performs onsite operations and maintenance services and invests in technology upgrades as the needs of the fleet evolve.
MWS: AMPLY WAS JUST GETTING STARTED WHEN WE LAST CHATTED. WHAT ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019 YOU COULD SHARE WITH US THIS YEAR?
SHAO:
Two highlights have been our acceptance into Hawaii’s Elemental Excelerator, an accelerator program for clean energy technology startups, as well as our acceptance into the Cleantech 100 list, which honors 100 companies making moves in clean energy.
MWS: HOW HAS YOUR AFFILIATION WITH HAWAII’S ELEMENTAL EXCELERATOR AFFECTED AMPLY AND ITS CUSTOMERS?
SHAO:
Our work with Elemental Excelerator has opened many doors throughout Hawaii including our recent partnership with energy company, Pacific Current.
We find that two of the largest obstacles to maintaining electric fleets are the complex pricing and understanding utility rates. By partnering with energy companies like Pacific Current, we’re able to work on behalf of the utility to ease their customers into the electric transition of their fleets while also helping businesses save money and helping utilities and regulators meet electrification goals.
MWS: SPEAKING OF ACHIEVEMENTS, AMPLY PARTNERED WITH BYD IN NOVEMBER 2019. WHAT SPAWNED THAT PARTNERSHIP?
SHAO:
AMPLY is completely hardware agnostic. We recommend partners, hardware, and solutions to our clients based on their individual needs. The partnership allows fleet operators who are BYD customers such as transit agencies, shuttle bus operators, universities, school districts, and municipalities to more rapidly migrate to electric vehicles through joint products and services encompassing vehicles and infrastructure. By establishing a relationship with BYD, we now open the door to vehicle and management options for operators, making the switch to electric even easier.
MWS: WHAT’S IN THE FORECAST FOR AMPLY IN 2020?
SHAO:
As businesses around the country continue to electrify their fleets, AMPLY will continue to offer them charging services. We expect to be making a variety of announcements related to customers and partnerships in 2020 that will further validate the AMPLY Charging-as-a-Service business model. We may also be able to remove the curtain on some of our current electric fleet programs and customers that are already underway and provide case study examples of how AMPLY makes EV charging simpler and more cost-effective for fleets.
We also hope to partner with more utilities. By getting utilities on board, their customers will have access to simplified fleet electrification solutions. This increases both the utility’s chances of keeping customers long-term, and it also saves money and headaches for fleet operators.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Vic Shao is the founder and CEO of AMPLY Power. Vic founded AMPLY Power in 2018 and previously served as the founder and CEO of Green Charge Networks (GCN), an energy storage company that manages electric demand and renewable deployment for customers. After GCN was acquired by the international energy provider ENGIE in 2016, Vic oversaw global project development for ENGIE Energy Storage. Prior to founding GCN, Vic served as COO and VP of product development at MobileAria, which provides security and productivity telematics applications for the transportation industry and private fleets. Vic received his MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia.
