The world’s 1st ultrafast EV charging network started in an SU dorm room
Courtesy of SparkCharge
The business, which started in Aviv’s SU dorm room, has grown from a two-person effort to a company with around 30-40 employees located across the U.S.
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After Josh Aviv brainstormed his idea for an electric car charging service with his now-wife during their winter break in 2013, he started SparkCharge in a space that many students would find intimidating to create a business — his dorm room.
“I look back on it and I’m like, ‘That was definitely a wild crazy idea,’ but I’m super grateful for the opportunity to be able to jump into something that I’m passionate about,” Josh said. “Something that I love.”
Since that moment, Josh has transformed SparkCharge, the world’s first ultrafast mobile electric vehicle charging network, from a two-person effort to an award winning company headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with employees across the U.S.
The Syracuse University alumnus knew he wanted to get into entrepreneurship after he took a class called environmental economics. The class — which is taught by Peter Wilcoxen, a professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs — inspired the SparkCharge founder to think about the change he could be making for the earth.
“I remember him saying, ‘If you want to change the world, solve the problem of infrastructure for electric vehicles,’” Josh said. “I met with him after class and really started learning about this problem … and came up with the idea for SparkCharge.”
During the early stages of the startup, Samadhi Aviv, Josh’s wife, would make SparkCharge T-shirts with Josh to prepare for events where they would talk about the company. Samadhi recalled being very involved during this time, as she had to help with marketing, accounting and hiring interns.
“There’s (now) almost like 30, 40 employees in different states,” Samadhi said. “So I’ve been able to see us grow from making T-shirts at 2 a.m. until now.”
The pair knew each other through a group of friends but didn’t start interacting until they were sophomores at SU. Samadhi said she appreciates that even though running a company like SparkCharge consumes a lot of time, Josh still takes time for his loved ones and young entrepreneurs.
One of Josh’s No. 1 mentors is Linda Dickerson Hartsock, the executive director of Blackstone LaunchPad. The two first met in 2016 when Blackstone LaunchPad opened during Josh’s first year of graduate school and still keep in contact to talk about his business.
Whether it’s occasionally speaking to her entrepreneurship class or mentoring student entrepreneurs as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Blackstone LaunchPad, Hartsock said Josh is still very connected to her and his alma mater.
“He’s a frequent speaker, frequently guest judging business plan competitions,” Hartsock said. “It’s a very long and deep personal relationship and valued friendship.”
Along with his connection to the university, Hartsock said Josh also mentors young Black founders, as he understands the challenges of being a Black entrepreneur and speaks about these issues on a national level.
Joshua Rapoza, the vice president of marketing at SparkCharge, said he admires the maturity that Josh has displayed while leading the charging company.
“I’ve worked with a lot of different people in the world, and I’ve never seen someone with such work ethic and understanding and yet patient with everyone,” Rapoza said. “He’s got this passion, (and) he’s got this ability … to get everyone around him excited about what’s happening.”
In 2020, Josh presented the company to the sharks of “Shark Tank” and walked away with a $1 million investment for 10% equity from sharks Lori Greiner and Mark Cuban. Although the SparkCharge CEO was confident in what his company had to bring to the table, he had to emphasize the novelty of the company to the sharks.
“We had to really be on our game going before the sharks and pitching your business in front of, I think it was 3.6 million people that tuned in that night,” Josh said.
As the developers of the world’s first mobile ultrafast charging network, Rapoza said the company offers two major services. One of them, the Roadie, is a portable modular electric vehicle charger that Rapoza said is faster than 95-98% of installed chargers and can supply power where most chargers can’t. Whether it’s a parking lot or a showroom or a desert, electric vehicles are able to be charged with the Roadie, Rapoza said.
Another feature the company has rolled out is an app called Currently, which Rapoza described as “Uber Eats for hungry electric vehicles.” The service is available in select cities in the U.S., including San Francisco and Dallas, with plans to expand to other locations across the country.
After paying a subscription fee, drivers can get their electric vehicles charged by Currently employees by indicating where their car is and why they want it charged. Rapoza said that the company has also recently made a deal with Kia — if drivers own an electric Kia vehicle where Currently is available, they can get two months of the service for free.
“It’s really about creating access,” Rapoza said.
In his free time, Josh reads books like “Work Rules!” by Laszlo Bock and is an avid video game player. From gaming when the Sega Genesis came out to playing Call of Duty and Apex Legends on current-gen consoles, Josh said he feels like his generation has been gaming their whole lives.
Building the first ultrafast mobile EV charger was a hard feat to accomplish, but thanks to having the right team around him, it was something the company was able to achieve, Josh said.
“We put a lot of time into getting that product built,” Josh said. “I think it was three years of development just to launch a product, right? So it’s something that we’re extremely happy about.”
Published on April 12, 2022 at 12:25 am
Contact Siron: sthoma10@syr.edu | @sironthomas
