Welcome to EV Chat and welcome to Season 3! We are excited to kick off this season with Brendan P. Keegan, the CEO of Merchants Fleet, the fastest-growing fleet technology company in North America.    Merchants Fleet works with major retailers, as well as shipping companies. In 2020, Merchants Fleet announced a significant fleet electrification initiative, featuring partnerships with major car and EVSE companies—all with the goal of helping clients transition to EV fleets.    Additionally, last year, Merchants Fleet announced sponsorship of McLaren’s Extreme E all-electric racing team. Keegan is an award-winning leader who has experience in business strategy, raising capital, and technology enablement.  In this episode, Rue and Brendan cover several key topics including: Merchants Fleet biz model [2:32 - 3:59] Barriers in fleet electrification [4:00 - 5:49] Supply chain prices & MSRP [5:50 - 7:30] Industry opportunity & "last mile" companies [7:31 - 9:30] What does "last mile" mean? [9:31 - 10:59] Last mile charging infrastructure [11:00 - 13:09] Range anxiety [13:10 - 14:39] "Box" states & rural driving [14:40 - 16:03] Fluke Corporation Sponsor Segment [16:03 - 17:17] State and federal EV incentives [17:18 - 20:04] EV fleet rentals [20:05 - 22:19] Chatting EVs on the market [22:20 - 23:02] Extreme E and the McLaren partnership [23:03 - 25:44] 2022 Formula E sponsorship [25:57 - 26:28] Thoughts on EV manufacturers [26:29 - 28:15] EVSE availability [28:16 - 29:47] What would you do with $5B? [29:48 - 30:52] Resources mentioned in this article: 1. Learn more about Merchants Fleet 2. Read up on McLaren's Extreme E all-electric racing team here Subscribe to EV Chat and never miss an episode! EV Chat Podcast *Available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify & more. Thank you for tuning into EV Chat, powered by 365 Pronto and sponsored by Fluke Corporation.