Solving the Electrification "Puzzle" - B-ON's President and COO Joerg Hoffman

Joerg Hofmann is best known as the CEO of LEVC, a Geely-owned company that electrified the iconic black London taxi. He's now swapped taxis for electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs), and has joined B-ON.

Auto Futures has been talking to Hofmann, President and COO, at B–ON, a global company that has been producing and deploying electric fleets since 2017.

"I look back at my time at LECV fondly. We electrified one of the most recognisable cars in the world – the Black Cab – and using that proven platform, launched a van for business deliveries," says Hofmann.

B–ON is a 'one-stop shop' for fleet electrification. It manufactures eLCVs, alongside supporting services, such as charging infrastructure, telematics, financing, and maintenance.

In January, 2022, the company, formerly known as ODIN Automotive, purchased the production rights and IP for StreetScooter vehicles from Deutsche Post DHL. 

"In a word? Huge," says Hofmann about this game-changing acquisition. "Creating a brand-new vehicle takes years, complicated homologation, and extensive upfront R&D costs. By acquiring SreetScooter not only did it provide B–ON with a proven product, that was hard at work for one of the largest delivery companies (Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) in Germany, but also showed us what a customer needs in an eLCV fleet from the very start."

"It’s worth noting that StreetScooter, as a manufacturer, encountered everything on their journey to electrify DPDHL’s delivery fleet, all the problems that our other customers will face, and that experience gave B–ON the ability to help other businesses avoid all of the biggest pitfalls of making the switch to electric logistic vehicles."

"StreetScooter was the true pioneer of switching to electric fleets, and the acquisition also gave the company access to a whole mountain of real-world data that no one else can provide. It’s invaluable," he adds.

Good Karma

2023 is going to be a year of rapid global scaling for B–ON. In January, it announced a partnership with Karma Automotive, a US-based producer of luxury EVs, to produce eLCVs at its manufacturing plant in California. The facility will start running full-scale production in 2024.

"That factory, with our line in Dueren, Germany, will have a combined capacity to produce up to 60,000 vehicles per year. There is demand for our product, so the next step is to up our manufacturing speed to get them out there as soon as possible. Plus, I joined earlier this year, so I’m excited to take a monumental growth step with B–ON and its team," says Hofmann.

As well as manufacturing vehicles, B–ON is also seeking to enhance the in-cabin experience for drivers.

"Before designing the interior, the B–ON team spent hours upon hours with real drivers finding out what they actually wanted, instead of what we thought they would want. For example, they invested more in extremely durable and ergonomic door hinges, designed for drivers to ingress and egress dozens of times per day as comfortably as possible. It’s these small details that really make the difference for them at the end of the day." 

"We focus on what counts. Instead of investing in deep tech or fancy bells and whistles that other companies spend a fortune on, we really focused on developing a product that has everything drivers need and nothing they don’t. Not only does this save weight - vital for electric vehicles - it also limits distractions to ensure drivers are safer and more focused on the road," he notes. 

Driver Education

During his time at LEVC, Hofmann gained a deep insight into the production of EVs. 

"One of the biggest challenges is that producing electric cars is not analogous to producing combustion engine vehicles - it requires different equipment, different capabilities, and entirely different processes in some cases. Setting up that manufacturing is an intensely complex and expensive process, which is one of the reasons why B–ON’s existing manufacturing is such an enormous leg up," he says.

Hofmann says there are a number of pitfalls for electrifying fleet electrification which B-On is helping operators navigate.

"Many companies overlook the fact that the minimum viable product for making the switch to electric vehicles isn’t actually the vehicle itself - you really need a whole set of services to get the job done properly. Charging infrastructure, so both the chargers themselves and the right access to power for those chargers, is a huge one."

"Another piece is service, maintenance and repair. Since electric vehicles don’t work like combustion engine cars, they require a specialised network to service," he adds.

There's also a need for driver education.

"Studies show that once drivers try an electric vehicle, they never want to go back to diesel or petrol. But teaching drivers how and when to charge their vehicles, and how to operate them at peak performance, is another often overlooked task that can make all the difference for total cost of ownership," says Hofmann.

Although aiming to offer a full service, B–ON is not trying to vertically integrate every piece of this ecosystem.

"Our focus is instead on partnering with existing providers who already know how to do this correctly, and simply aggregating them in one place for the customer. All of the pieces of this puzzle are already out there, and when we bring them into one place for the customer, it becomes much easier and more cost effective to make this change."

Finally, we asked Hofmann what logistics and urban mobility will be like by 2030,

"As government regulations around emissions and transportation become more stringent, the shift to electric vehicles is no longer a question of if, but when and how. By this time, fleets all over the world will have been forced to make this change, whether they like it or not…we’re here to help ease the difficulties of that transition, leaving cleaner cities and more profitable, happier customers behind," he predicts.