Owen Resh Design+Marketing
Business Administration, Aker Wade EV Division
What happens when your company overreaches by 5 years? You honor your commitments, find creative ways to deliver and take care of your core customers.
Following the recession, my company was looking to diversify.
With gas prices at record highs and the launch of the first fast charge-capable EV in the U.S., Aker Wade jumped into the EV infrastructure space with a bold vision for the future of refueling.
After early successes, including delivery of Australia's first fast charger and winning 2 Department of Energy (DOE) projects, things went sideways.
By 2011, the division was falling behind on every project. In July, I was selected by our CEO to manage the division and create a recovery plan.
My first step was to determine where the EV infrastructure market was on Roy Amara's famous "hype" curve.
After concluding the market was headed for the trough, we agreed my top responsibilities would be 1) protect our core industrial charging business, 2) honor our commitments and 3) don't confuse incremental success with late-curve maturity.
With clear priorities, I drafted a strategy in support of 5 goals:
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Complete the DOE projects
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Stabilize product development
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Cultivate intellectual property
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Acquire funding
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Build a channel
And rather than isolate EV from our core business, I leveraged it, speaking regularly at conferences to describe how electric forklift fleets could integrate EVs into their existing business models.
And each day we worked the plan...
DOE Project 1
In 2009, the DOE partnered with GM to implement a new global fast charge communication protocol, and Aker Wade was selected to lead development on the "charger side."
Conceived by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the protocol’s ambitions led to technical challenges in excess of the project’s scope. With development bogged down and funding exhausted, I worked with our engineering and sales teams to design a completion plan.
After months of detailed negotiations, additional funds were released. In July of 2013, we completed the project, allowing GM to take a leadership position in EV fast charging while we became the first U.S. manufacturer to meet the new standard.
Intellectual Property
The most challenging aspect of the new fast charge protocol was the SAE’s determination to future-proof it for services such as ecommerce.
As part of the completion plan, we performed an extensive review of the protocol’s functionality and discovered a section allowing the charger to calculate “time to full” and "added range."
Realizing no automaker or charger manufacturer had explored this functionality, we developed a concept for a specialized user interface and in 2014 we submitted Aker Wade's first patent application in a decade.
Funding and Channels
With our turnaround making progress, we began pursuing development partners, funding and channels.
Our first success was with Wayne, the largest manufacturer of gas pumps. Together, we developed a concept combining their point-of-sale module with the body and power electronics of our fast charger. It yielded the Ovation EVX concept, targeting the convenience store/gas station market.
In 2012, we announced a collaboration with SPX (now Bosch), the leading supplier of auto service tools, to create a charger for auto dealerships. For this product, we designed an innovative approach to the electronics that anticipated a new segment: residential fast charging from a standard 220 volt service.
By the summer of 2014, we had successfully completed each goal:
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Completed 2 DOE projects
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Reformed product development
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Created intellectual property
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Acquired funding
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Built 2 potential channels
In addition, we distinguished ourselves in the industry by becoming the first U.S. fast charge manufacturer to meet the new global communication protocol, and helped our client, GM, claim a leadership position in EV fast charging.
Despite successes, I knew they were incremental. As gas prices dropped, sales of EVs missed targets and interest softened.
In 2014, I closed the division, immediately refocusing resources on our core industrial business.
By taking action quickly, I was able to redirect the enthusiasm of our EV start-up back into our core business - move that led to the growth our company originally sought from EV.
Summary
Tasked with turning around a failing business unit.
Responsibilities
P&L, Product Development, Program Management, Project Management, Budgeting, Market Research, Marketing Strategy, Talent Acquisition, Employee Development, Contract Negotiation, Intellectual Property, Channel Development, Business Development, Public Speaking.