Fred Surr
- In 2007, Captains of Industry, which I co-founded, started helping utility-scale wind and solar companies create allies where they’d had opponents, moving the message from “we make clean energy” to “we rebuild rural communities while helping American achieve energy independence” (sounds obvious now, but it wasn’t back then). This led to engagements across the energy sector, including utilities, policy organizations and global consultancies.
- Along the way, I did work with Pro-Active Performance for Volvo, BMW, Porsche, Audi, VW, Mazda, Kia, and interestingly, the launch of the Fisker Karma, which is where in 2012 I first learned about ICE-powered range extenders from Paul Boskovitch, whose name is on the patent.
- I transitioned out of Captains and joined Pro-Active in 2019 to help them position the company for sale, which they did in late 2023. Along the way, I participated in numerous launches, including the XC40 Recharge (Volvo’s first EV) and the Porsche Taycan. The deeper I got into the reality of large scale adoption of EVs, the more it became clear that range anxiety and charging infrastructure were the big hurdles.
- I’ve become convinced that the only realistic, capitalism-friendly way to make affordable EVs mainstream, right now, is EREVs. Having an EREV means the gas station is your on-the-road charging station. Since 90% of most daily driving is under 150 miles, this means we can cut battery weight and cost in half. We get North Americans used to driving electric without requiring massive new infrastructure – and more important, without having to ask them to change the way they drive.
