Stop Investing in Chargers. Start Investing in Systems

Most EV charging failures don't start when the charger goes down. They start in planning and procurement, long before ground is broken. In this roundtable episode, host Jason Cortes sits down with Grayson Eady (Founder & CEO, eVision Solutions) and Laolu Adeola (Managing Director, Leke Services). Grayson is a former Rivian charging interoperability engineer. Laolu is a fleet electrification veteran who has helped raise more than $2B for EV startups. Together they break down why cheap infrastructure turns into expensive infrastructure, and what buyers should require before they ever issue an RFP. What was covered: • Why charging is a "system of systems": hardware, OCPP, charging management software, firmware, cybersecurity, data, and O&M • Treating charging like a vehicle purchase, with total cost of ownership instead of the lowest install cost • A real case where a charger was down 60+ days while every dashboard said "available," and why hardware data logs sat behind a paywall • The "crossed-arm salute": what happens when nobody owns the problem • Why uptime is only the baseline, and why first-time plug-in success and mean time to repair are what separate strong operators from the rest • Buy Better, their workshop that helps fleets, municipalities, and CPOs build RFPs that screen out bad vendors from day one • Why the industry needs airline-style data sharing, and why charging should compete on price and amenities, not on whether it works Chapters 00:00 Why charging problems start before the charger fails 00:39 Welcome + guest introductions 05:05 Fleet vs. public charging: from uptime to next-order metrics 09:17 What the industry underestimates about planning & procurement 12:25 Total cost of ownership for charging 13:39 How charging projects go sideways 18:10 Case study: 60+ days down while dashboards said "available" 21:24 Inside the Buy Better program 27:18 RFI before RFP: meeting buyers where they are 31:48 Most common mistakes: public/retail vs. fleet 35:43 What high-performing charging programs measure 43:16 What the industry needs to change 48:20 Where to connect with Grayson, Laolu & Buy Better Links Buy Better program: https://buybettercharging.com eVision Solutions: https://www.evision.world/ Leke Services: https://www.leke.services/ Grayson Eady on LinkedIn:   / grayson-eady   Laolu Adeola on LinkedIn:   / laoluwa   Field Advantage: https://www.fieldadv.com/ Produced and edited by Autozy: https://autozy.co #EVCharging #FleetElectrification #EVInfrastructure #FieldFrequency