Interview with Mitch Marks

1. What’s your role at HBK?

Oh! Good question! My title is Business Development – Electrification, and my boss would say that I “find new business, establish expertise in the industry, and give customer feedbacks to product direction”, which is true, but it really depends day to day. HBK has put a focus on helping customers electrify, so I am constantly going to conferences, visiting customers, and trying to find the next great thing for testing in the electric world. It is fun because everyone is excited about electrification and willing to learn, I am fortunate to be able to share a lot of the knowledge I have with customers and internal HBK people.

2. Tell us a bit about the recent trip you did in an electric vehicle (EV), where did you go? What was your favorite part about it?

I bought the Ford Mustang MachE about 18 months ago and have really loved every mile in it. I have also become pretty confident with the charging infrastructure and the vehicle range, so when I had a couple of meetings pop up in random places across the Midwest I decided to make a Tommy Boy style roadtrip out of it and visit some family along the way. The MachE is not the fastest charging car in the world, but between work meetings, stretching my legs, and food runs, it’s all good.

The first half of the trip had a lot of stops for customers and meetings:

1. Detroit to Chicago à 1 charging stop along the way, nothing too interesting. I make this drive a lot so I have my preferred stop where by the time I get food and stretch my legs the 150kW charger has me good to go. Then once in Chicago I charged at a hotel overnight.

2. Chicago to Oshkosh WI à Wisconsin is currently awful for charging, I am not super proud of my home state for that. A lot of EV engineers have come out of Wisconsin, so they should really get their act together. Fortunately I didn’t need to charge on this stretch, so I had lunch with a co-worker in Milwaukee, spent a little time on a level 2 charger, then charged overnight at the hotel in Oshkosh!

3. Oshkosh to Minneapolis MN à I had one 150kW charger stop just outside of Eau Claire WI, it was a good stop because it was next to a Kwik Trip. I love Kwik Trip! I loaded up on all the cheese and unhealthy snacks that a road trip like this needs. Once I got to Minneapolis I was able to charge at a grocery store next to where I was staying. ?I was disappointed in the availability of charging and fast charging in Minneapolis. I am blaming the city, because we will see that Minnesota is not so bad.

4. Minneapolis to Fargo à This is where I started to get worried. I obviously planned out everything in advance, but you really have to dig into the reviews on the charging stations to make sure they are working, or in some cases finished being built. So I checked the stations, the reviews checked out and were recent, and fortunately for me the stops worked out. I only needed to make 1 stop, but I made 2 because I had a couple of work meetings, the times aligned, and I could get to Fargo with more charge. Both stations were 50kW chargers at City Hall’s. It seems like Minnesota has some incentives for that, so thanks Minnesota! When I got to Fargo I was at like 85% state of charge, and to my surprise my hotel had a bunch of outlets on the outside of the building (not super typical) so I was able to plug in and leave Fargo at 100%. I thought about it and realized that it is so far north they have all the outlets for Block Heaters on trucks! Whoo!

Stretch one was about 1000 miles and was pretty painless because I was staying in so many of the cities and planned my charging around the overnights.

The trip home from Fargo was the 1000 miles in 2 days and I decided I was going to go through the UP to see if I could do it. This was the one I made the LinkedIn post about with all my stops I needed to work out. The planning for the return trip was really important. Northern Wisconsin and the UP only have a couple fast chargers, so I needed to plan on the best-case scenario and the “what if the charger is down” scenarios.

My favorite part of the trip was the sights in Duluth, Northern Wisconsin, and the UP. It’s a really special place. Getting to sit on my high horse and not pollute it while still enjoying it from a car was a definite plus. I was only able to make this trip because of a lot of new chargers, so it was fun to really comfortably make the trip in some spots, and in the spots there were not as many chargers, part of the fun was living on the edge.

3.? What were the main challenges along the way?

It was surprisingly uneventful! Outside of the drive in the UP and some of Minnesota, there was a decent amount of charging options where I didn’t have to get really stressed. I needed to plan ahead, but that was not so bad.

One of the things that was harder than I would have liked was finding a hotel with a level 2 charger. These trips become so much easier if you can charge while you sleep. Without being picky about my hotels, my trip would have been a lot more challenging.

4.? What were your biggest surprises?

I had a couple big surprises:

a.??????50kW chargers took longer, but on a work trip where I need to hop on meetings, eat meals, and answer emails, they did not slow me down that much. They were all super reliable and easy to use. They won’t be great for people in a rush, but for my needs on a business road trip, I was perfectly happy with the slower charge rate.

b.?????The 120V outlet for the block heaters was really great for getting some extra miles! If I was going to be staying for a couple days, I could get quite a bit of charge into my vehicle without any type of major infrastructure change for the hotel. It would be great to see more places have a lot of low power outlets (and a couple level 2 chargers!)

c.??????Speed does make a huge difference on milage. When I was going 60mph, I really thought I could go forever. When I was going 85mph, my energy dropped very quickly. Not actually surprising, but on these rural trips, it can make a big difference in either direction.

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5.??????What’s the biggest takeaway from this experience?

?EV road trips are more enjoyable! It really forces you to take time and appreciate the journey and stop at places you normally might not normally. It is not for everyone, we need more charging, we need faster charging, but a 200 mile car go a long way. If it could charge very quickly I think it would be the perfect fit.