Optimus Technologies, Inc.’s Post

Transcript

Because we have that much time calling Huler Co Optimist Technologies, good friend of Matt over here. And apparently just in the good fortune, the butterfly effect of this all, you ended up on the same episode of a guest you suggested to this man. Yeah, timing, uh, timing worked out great, book was great. And Covenant is going to be doing proof of concept with with, with Optimus technology. We got 3 trucks completely outfitted just waiting for the fuel. I don't want to get the cart before the horse, but no, Yeah, hold on. Let's ask you first. Little social proof here because Covenant is a user of optimistic knology. So what, you give me the elevator pitch on them? What do they do for Covenant? They are going to decarbonize the diesel side of our business running, I'll let call and talk about it. But when you're running on on 100% or 99% biodiesel, it's essentially a carbon free event. And so for our sustainability minded customers, what Colin and his team have put together is a way for you to do it that's incredibly affordable, scalable and also doesn't require you to make a huge investment in equipment that you don't understand. Colin, is it, is it a device? Set an app. How are we? How are we achieving this? What are you putting on these covenant trucks? Yeah. So our, our technology is a fuel system upgrade. So it goes on to, you know, as as. Doug had talked about, right, the introduction of the diesel engine. It's, it's evolved incredibly over the past 100 years. But one of the things that that has happened in that evolution is the optimization for multi fuels has has kind of faded away. So what our technology does, it's a a fuel system upgrade. So it's hardware and software. It bolts onto existing engines. They can be trucks that are already into the field or built new on, on trucks that are being manufactured and it allows those. Just run on 100% biodiesel, which is a vegetable oil or animal fat based replacement diesel fuel. At the same time, we're never inhibiting those engines from running traditional diesel. So from a business perspective, it provides resiliency because you can deploy on on biodiesel or never inhibited from operating on diesel, which makes sure you know those loads are are continuing to be delivered. No, Matt, you're responsible for bringing this over to covenant. What what made you decide to give us a shot? So it's. Interesting in in the world that I live in, I put a lot of faith in what my competitors and my peers are doing. And so common sort of talk around this because we all have an NDA's involved, but there's a large private fleet that is running quite a large more than 200 trucks at the moment on his solution. And I called, you know, our mutual friend and said this doesn't make sense. Do you understand that when the temperature drops below 50�� that biodiesel starts to coagulate and become, you know, you're a hater? At first I did not understand it. It didn't make any sense. I can see sort of dug over here in our other window. Who's still with us. You know, he's like diesel, diesel fuel. It doesn't live well at cold temperatures, but I was able to be convinced that it worked well. Colin and his team have figured out how to maintain it. I don't think we'll be driving it through Idaho in the middle of winter, but apparently it'll still work. I mean, what do you have to say to that, Colin? Yeah, we, yeah, we just did some, some testing for our customer. We're, we've got our first units that we shipped up to Edmonton AB. And so the, those trucks are going to be operating Edmonton to Fort McMurray, which is, you know, consistently -35 negative 40��. And so before we launch that project, we actually took one of those trucks, we sent it to a cold chamber and we were able to test and validate down to down to that -40�� temperature that no. No impact, no operational challenges using biodiesel and that's in part how we approach the the upgrade. We use waste heat that the diesel engine generates to condition the biodiesel. So doesn't doesn't matter whether it's you know, 80�� outside or or -40 by a diesel still able to be to be utilized in, in the engine. Our software is optimizing for the parameters and it can switch back and forth between diesel and biodiesel depending on depending on the operating conditions. That that's big news because, Matt, I have you on the show frequently, right? And I go around conferences and I see people trying to pitch cleantech to you all the time. Clean trucks, you're usually shooting him down because the covenants demands being this over the road fleet. So it's really promising to hear that you've been able to expand and work in this because usually you have to shoot down most of these things. Yeah, it's it is the only solution I've seen so far that has the maximum amount of carbon reduction for the minimum investment. I mean, you can use renewable diesel right now, which is called a drop in fuel. That's great. But that only gets you 60%, you know, carbon emission. Colin, the question, I want you to make sure that you you answer for the audience because I think this is really important. But talk for just a minute about the percentage. First of all, talk about why running 99% biodiesel is essentially an emission free event. And talk a little bit about the reporting because ultimately our customers are worried about what's our scope one, but there's hope 3. Tell us a little bit more about how you saw both of those problems. Yeah, so talking, talking about the first one, biodiesel is made from things like animal fats and vegetable oils. And so the the fuel itself is a, is a liquid carbon molecule. But that source of energy comes essentially from solar energy, right? You've got photosynthesis that, that that's translating the the solar energy into, into the plant material. The plants get harvested, refined. In the, in the biodiesel. And so you have a closed loop cycle of the carbon that's in the atmosphere gets sequestered into the plant. It then gets emitted when you're, when you're utilizing it in the truck and then it's a it's a closed loop cycle. So with traditional diesel fuels, you have, you know, fossil fuels that are extracted when they, when they're utilized, they're combust, they release carbon into the atmosphere. So you've got one way, you know, extraction and admission of, of carbon emissions with biodiesel. It's a closed loop cycle, so you've got a net 0 total total impact. And so, you know, people don't think about it in that way, but it's basically just another mechanism of, of solar energy getting into, you know, getting into the vehicle. And because it's a liquid fuel, you don't have the complexity that you have with traditional electric vehicles where you've got, you know, photovoltaics turning into electricity, then you've got batteries, then you've got charging infrastructure and range and, you know, trillions of dollars at the end of the day that need to be invested for a technology. That as, as Doug writes about in his book, you know, there's a quote when I was reading it, that that was mind-blowing because you, you read it and it could be, you know, it, it could have been taken from today, but it was, you know, taken from the early 1900s. And it was talking about the difficulties with battery technology, the different difficulties with range, you know, the weight, you know, of, of electric vehicles. And I think that becomes really challenging for a fleet operator to, to integrate those in a way that that makes for a successful. Business case and so our, our approach is to, you know, build a successful business case, allow customers to decarbonize without impacting their their bottom line operations. Let me ask you something though. So as we learned from Doug's book, world governments, politics play a big role in the energy that will fuel our future. Donald Trump just won the presidency. He's president-elect. He will take over on 1/20 next year. How did the election results? Are we bullish or bearish on the biodiesel industry now? Yeah. I think overall, I think overall we're going to see a lot of movement in the the trucking world, in the transportation world, in particular the energy world for for us, our foundation has been built so that fleets can deploy in a cost effective manner. So, so generally speaking, our customers aren't getting large subsidies or government incentives to deploy our technology because it's cost effective that you can make a business. Case for it for, you know, your your shipper or if you're a private fleet within, you know, the the confines of what your sustainability goals are. And so I think the the biggest most dramatic thing that we're we're going to see is kind of an unwinding of a lot of these major policies and major incentives that have propped up the electrification and and and hydrogen world in a in a way that is going to deemphasize those and and I don't think that de emphasis of electrification. Is going to change, you know, Matt's customers need or demand for reducing carbon emissions. And so I, I think overall, you know, we'll see a net benefit for other decarbonization solutions than electrification. And I think that that bodes very well for for optimists. I'll just add one more thing to that is that there's a place for diesel, there's still a place for electric, there's a place for Optimus and the B100 solution. We need a lot the carriers of the future are going to be the fleets. That understand how to use all now the good news is there's a demo trial program going on right now. So you don't have to just take matter Collins word for it. You can scan this QR code on your screen or where can they go to to also sign up for the audio listeners who may be on podcast or radio right now. Yeah, head to our website at Optimus, Optimus Tech tec.com. It's got additional information on the demo truck program. It's up to a 30 day trial of today. We've got a Volvo VNR that's that's in operation. We've got a a Freightliner Cascadia coming soon and also an international that'll be live in Q1 of next year. Before we let you go to freight route Mount Rushmore, where you putting on yours? I, I, I kind of like, uh, Matt suggestion of, uh, Clessie Cummins. Alright, we're throwing comments out there and took it easy one on Matt side. I appreciate. Hey, are you gonna, are we gonna see Chattanooga next week? Are you out this way? Unfortunately, I won't be in Chattanooga next week. I'll be in DC OK, well, enjoy DC people connect with you if you scan that QR code or go to optimisttech.com and book yourself a little demo with this team. Thank you so much for your time today, Colin. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for the book suggestion too, that, you know, like the butterfly effect, Matt. Ohh, yeah. You know, I think I I hope Doug seen a pop in his book sales.