Hi everybody. Welcome to the shift of podcasts about mobility. I'm Pete Bigelow, your host.

I got home from CES to find a letter in the mail

for my utility provider that explained,

as of March, my rates are going up.

Specifically, during the peak usage hours between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

I'll confess it's the first time I've really had to care about time of use rates,

but suddenly I'm paying a lot more attention to when I charge an electric vehicle or even just use the heat.

That brings me to today's episode. My guest is Sean McLaughlin, CEO of Emporia Energy,

a Colorado-based company that sells a range of home energy products that includes

electric vehicle charging equipment and coming soon a bi-directional charger that's a lynchpin in helping cars be utilized as rolling energy storage devices.

Cars might provide energy for my home, particularly during outages, or even just during those peak usage hours when my rates are high.

I need some home energy management tools and tips.

Sean has the toolbox.

Without further ado, I'm pleased to bring you this conversation

with Emporia Energy's Sean McLachlan.

Sean, welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you here today.

Pete, thank you so much for having us on and giving us this opportunity to talk about Emporia.

Absolutely, I've been looking forward to it.

I want to preface our discussion a little bit by telling you that I got a letter in the mail

last week from my utility provider here in Southeast Michigan that outlined how they're going to price energy

going forward in a much more specific way than I've ever been used to before. It's not just day and overnight, but the bottom line is I'm going to have to get a whole lot

smarter about the way I'm using energy at home. And here we are, Sean.

...