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TC Tom Chempananical On The Energy Gang

“It's simple things like how do you tow vehicles when something goes wrong with them? You can't tow an electric vehicle similar to how you tow a diesel vehicle. … A regular repair shop cannot deal with the high voltage battery that's on a vehicle. … So you need the repair infrastructure to upgrade, to be able to handle aluminum, because the body panels are usually aluminum on these vehicles to reduce weight.”

The Energy Gang · Climate & Energy · November 2026

“It's simple things like how do you tow vehicles when something goes wrong with them? You can't tow an electric vehicle similar to how you tow a diesel vehicle. … A regular repair shop cannot deal with the high voltage battery that's on a vehicle. … So you need the repair infrastructure to upgrade, to be able to handle aluminum, because the body panels are usually aluminum on these vehicles to reduce weight.” — Tom Chempananical, The Energy Gang

Context

Asked about the biggest obstacles in electrifying Amazon's delivery fleet, he says the underestimated part was the support ecosystem around the vehicles, beyond chargers and range: towing, repair, tires and collision work.

Transcript

The Energy Gang Around 51:16 into the episode
Tom Chempananical

We think about them as opportunities, I guess. Yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry,

Speaker 3

I apologize for that. But

Tom Chempananical

…Range was going to be one that we needed to go solve for. I think the part that we didn't quite appreciate and have learned to appreciate and done a lot of work around has been this is a bit of an ecosystem that has got to move as well. It's not just about what we do ourselves because there's a whole support ecosystem that's got to come along with it. And that ranges from all kinds of things. It's simple things like how do you tow vehicles when something goes wrong with them? You can't tow an electric vehicle similar to how you tow a diesel vehicle. So you need the towing infrastructure to come along that lets you do it. When you're thinking about repairing a vehicle, A regular repair shop cannot deal with the high voltage battery that's on a vehicle. So, you need the repair infrastructure to upgrade, handle aluminum, be able to handle aluminum because the body panels are usually aluminum on these vehicles to reduce weight. How do you get…

Amy Myers-Jaffe

dictates why you would have a limited number of OEMs involved in the process because that would at least simplify it, I suppose.

Tom Chempananical

It does, but at the same time, I think that what we have found is, and this is interesting, like the places where there are consumer vehicles, a bigger penetration of electric consumer vehicles that are there, irrespective of the OEM that's delivering it. We actually find it easier to get there.…

Speaker 3

So, what about you, Emily? Do you have another challenge that's been particularly difficult for you? What was the word you used? Tommy, you said an opportunity or something. We describe it as a headache. But what have been the most difficult opportunities you face? Let's put it that way.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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