Each year, Sacramento Business Journal Inno reporter Mark Anderson identifies the top local startups set to make waves in the year ahead. EV Life is one of 11 that made the cut in 2024.
EV Life Inc.
EV Life Inc. operates an online platform to help electric car buyers lower their upfront monthly loan payments by tapping into tax credits, incentives and rebates. It also has a lending facility to make financing EVs less complicated and less expensive upfront.
The Folsom-based company launched in 2019 to help consumers find and get all the incentives and perks associated with buying an electric car. It has four full-time employees, plus six contractors, said co-CEO Kevin Favro.
EV Life’s site helps customers find the federal, state, local and local air district incentives for their address to buy an EV. And then, based on those incentives, it helps them get an EV Climate Loan that the company says can significantly lower monthly payments, especially in the early months of the loan.
Once the customer buys the car, they still need to apply for all their incentives, and EV Life has a navigator tool that gives them step-by-step instructions and deadlines.
EV Life started marketing to consumers directly on its site, and it will move to supporting original equipment manufacturers to work with their captive finance arms as well as with credit unions and banks, said Peter Glenn, EV Life's other co-CEO.
EV Life plans to build a portfolio of loans made through the platform and then sell that on the secondary market to banks or credit unions. The company expects to make money by building an incentive service fee into the loan, and then later by reselling the loans. The company, through a finance partner, sold out of its first $5 million credit facility, and it is on to another one, Favro said.
EV Life won the $10,000 top cash prize in Elk Grove’s inaugural Pitch Elk Grove startup competition in 2022.
