11.15-16.23-RD-Bluedot Motorworks

TOM GURSKI: Hi, everybody. I'm Tom Gurski, founder and CEO of Blue Dot Motorworks. I received my degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. I'm on the board of MIT Alumni for Climate Action, and I lead the EV working group there.

So at Blue Dot, we have developed the first universal technologies for electrifying existing cars. But before we get into that, I'd like to take a quick poll of the audience, if you don't mind. So the question is, by what year do we need to stop producing combustion cars so that emissions align with keeping global warming to under 1.5C?

So we'll start with our hands up. Hands up, everybody. And I'm going to count backwards from 2040, and when we get to the year when we need to stop making gas and diesel cars, put your hand down. OK, 2040. '39. '38. '37. '36. '35. '34. '33. '32. '31. '30. '29. '28. '27. '26. '25. '24. '23. '22.

OK I think a few people know that it was a trick question. Unfortunately, that year has already come and gone. So even if we were to transition production today to be 100% electric immediately, we would exceed that carbon budget by about 300%. OK, so-- it advancing? There we go. Sorry about that.

So the problem is simply the size and growth rate of the global stock of vehicles relative to how many cars we produce every year. So the seemingly obvious solution here is to electrify existing cars. And there's definitely a multi-trillion dollar opportunity there. But all of the current solutions for doing so are not cost effective and are not going to be scalable.

That's because they are all either fully customized, or at best, vehicle-specific. So this means that you are producing the componentry in very small volumes, so it's going to be expensive. The conversion processes are lengthy, so the labor costs are quite high. But they're also complex invasive and vary from vehicle to vehicle. So the only practical way to do it is in-house, and that's a very expensive and difficult business model to scale.

So this is the Narwhal, our first product. It's for pickup trucks, traditional SUVs, and some vans. It provides 30 to 45 miles of electric range per charge, but we keep the engine available for whenever you need more. So effectively, we turn cars into plug-in hybrids.

Now, the secret sauce here is our vehicle agnostic architecture. It kind of proved to be right on the edge of what was possible to achieve, but now that we have it, there's a solution that can be mass produced at a dramatically lower price. Our installation process is simple, consistent, and fast, so it can be done by any mechanic anywhere in about a day. So it truly is a transformationally better approach in terms of cost effectiveness and scalability.

I'd like to introduce you to Jonathan. He's really emblematic of our go-to-market customers. He's the sustainability manager at a school district in British Columbia. He reached out to us and explained that they have a fleet of 59 pickup trucks and vans used by their tradespeople, and they have a provincial mandate to cut their emissions 40% by 2030.

Now, they simply can't afford to get anywhere close to achieving that by replacing their existing vehicles with electrics on anything even remotely close to their normal budget. So we analyzed their fleet data and were able to demonstrate that if they instead converted their entire fleet using Blue Dot technologies, they'd cut their emissions 65%, so dramatically exceeding that mandate. The investment would pay for itself in about two years, and they'd be saving over $100,000 every year after that. So we were able to turn this massive liability with no viable solution into a cost savings opportunity, with the lifetime savings over a million dollars.

So right now, we are in advanced prototyping. We're looking for partnerships in pretty much all aspects of our business. We're looking for pilot customers to trial our upcoming beta prototypes in their fleets or their customer fleets. We're looking for installation partnerships where we'll provide a new revenue stream at a time when electric vehicles are really threatening the vehicle service business.

We are looking for conversations with policy makers to have solutions like these included in incentive programs. And of course, we need suppliers of all types. Batteries and axial flux electric motors are particularly crucial for us.

So thank you all for your time. I'd like to invite anyone here to be a part of what is the most cost-effective, scalable, resource-efficient, and equitable solution to what is the biggest cause of climate change. Thank you.