Rivian’s Billion-Dollar Bet, NYC’s Big Win, and the Sand Battery Revolution

The automotive industry's long-term strategic vision takes center stage in this episode as we examine Rivian's bold move to begin construction on its manufacturing plant in Georgia. Despite current market hesitation around EVs, Rivian is doubling down with a facility scheduled to open in 2028. Why commit billions when consumer preferences seem to be shifting? The answer lies in understanding how global automakers operate with long-term horizons, looking 10-20 years ahead when making capital-heavy investments.

We've seen this before—remember when Tesla's ambitious production goals for the Model 3 seemed impossible? Today, the Model Y is the world's best-selling electric vehicle. Rivian appears to be following a similar strategy, betting that scaling up to mass-market volumes with their R2 and R3 models will position them for future success, regardless of temporary market fluctuations.

Manhattan's congestion pricing experiment delivers impressive results, with 17.6 million fewer vehicles entering the zone since January. Travel times have improved significantly—up to 36% faster at key entry points—transforming the daily experience for millions. After initial political resistance, even critics now recognize the program's benefits for traffic flow, air quality, and public transit funding. Could Boston, Chicago, or other congested American cities be next?

As electricity demand increases from AI, data centers, and rising electrification, we explore two fascinating methods of energy generation and storage. The federal government is funding the revival of retired nuclear plants, including Michigan's Palisades Nuclear Station and potentially Pennsylvania's infamous Three Mile Island. Meanwhile, Finland's innovative sand battery technology stores renewable energy as heat in ordinary sand for months at temperatures reaching 600°C, providing sustainable heating with minimal loss—all using one of Earth's most abundant materials.

Ready to explore these transformative technologies and strategies? Subscribe now and join our community of forward-thinking listeners passionate about mobility innovation. Leave us a message at 872-222-9793 or email talk@techmobility.show with your questions and insights!

Chapters

• 1:10 Rivian Gambles on Georgia
• 14:07 New York's Congestion Pricing Success
• 22:26 Nuclear Power Making a Comeback
• 33:26 Storing Energy in Sand

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast. Brought to you by Playbook Investors Network. Your strategic partner for unstoppable growth.

SPEAKER_03: 0:15

Visit pincommunity.org to get started. I'm Ken Chester. On the Docket. New York City congestion pricing update, nuclear power rebirth, and storing energy in sand. To join the conversation, be to ask a question, share an opinion, or even suggest a topic for future discussion, call or text the Tech Mobility Hotline, that number 872-222-9793. Or you can email the show directly, talk at techmobility.show. For those of you who enjoy Substack, you can find me at Ken C Iowa. That's K-E-N, the letter C, I O W A. From the Tech Mobility News Desk. Today we're going to talk about Rivian and what they've been up to, what they're doing, and why it is an interesting choice given the current market trends right now. Few years ago, Rivion had announced that they had planned to build a second plant in Georgia. They wanted to launch their more mass market models, the R2 and the R3, and was going to use the new plant in Georgia to do it. And of course, the state of Georgia celebrated because here's more business. All is well. Pandemic happened, supply chain challenges happened. Rivion decided to pause the building of that plant and actually rework some things that allowed them actually to introduce the R2 out of their Illinois plant. Well, they just recently announced that they have broken ground for the Georgia plant, and they expect to have it online in 2028, and it would support the company's R2 sport utility vehicle and smaller R3 crossover marble. So here's a question. With the recent issues that Hyundai had with their mega plant down in Georgia, with consumers pivoting away from pure EVs right now, with the end of the EV tax credit, all of these things are in the wind right now. Why would Rivion bet billions with a B of dollars to build a plant with no guarantee that they'll be able to sell anything that the plant builds? Well, let me make this simpler for you. Let me ask a companion question. Why did Hyundai build their meta plant in Georgia and still opened it and still predominantly are building EVs in that plant? It's what I've told you time and time again. The auto industry is global, capital intensive with long lead times. Just because the winds change now does not absolutely mean that one, they can make the change, two, that it would be in their best interest to make the change. They're looking at trends at 5, 10, 15, 20 years away when they're making these billion-dollar plus bets on plants, people, equipment, product line. It is not something that they can change on a dime. And yes, I know you've read in the industry trades, and maybe you've heard it on the news lately, some of the major manufacturers have canceled programs. I know that RAM has, Nissan has, Ford has. Absolutely sure. That they canceled EV programs. Let me explain what that means. Then we're going to come back to Rivion. These projects weren't so far along that designs were locked in, plants were committed, and equipment was ordered. Yes, there was probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars spent on some basic engineering, basic design, working with suppliers. But it was at a point where they could still choke it off. They had not got to the point of ordering dyes, breaking ground. Well, two exceptions to that, but for the most part, breaking ground and building equipment. And I'm talking about Blue Oval City in Tennessee for Ford, and it was at least one battery plant that Stillantis was joint partnering in Michigan that got paused. Automakers are in the business make money. They have to look at the amount of money that they've got to commit over a period of time with some business case that they're going to make their money back. That is capitalism. You invest money and hope to bring new products to market and hope that you'll be able to cover your buried cost, your engineering cost, your variable cost, and that you'll make a profit at the end of the day. Like any industry like that, with long lead times, like the airlines, like the oil industry, pick one. There's boom and bus times. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. It's still different from when it was back 30, 40, 50 years ago when they had work in progress inventory sitting on the floor with defects in them that they won't find until they get into that work, and then it's too late. Just in time manufacturing and a relentless, and I do mean relentless focus on supply chain issues, just in time inventory and lean manufacturing have brought them to this point. That even now they're still they're still committing billions of dollars, but the pain is a lot less today in real dollars than it would have been 20, 30 years ago. Rivion competes globally. When you compete globally, you have to look at everything. Regardless of what the United States chooses to do, the rest of the world definitely is aware of climate change, is definitely aware of the need to reduce carbon and greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. As a result, if Rivion, if Ford, if Stellantis, if GM plans compete worldwide, then they have to balance their portfolio. Now in the United States, consumers have said, eh, EV is kind of expensive. Don't think I want to go there, losing the credit, but we will buy hybrid. That's the first thing. So a lot of manufacturers who have either had hybrid programs or could pivot did pivot to the credit because the market still dictates what they do. They really don't want to offer anything to consumers that you don't want to buy. Full stop. I mean, that's the real life lesson. When you are building things that cost$30,000,$40,000,$50,000,$60,000 or more per unit, you need to make sure that what you're building is what the consumer wants. Because regulation will only take you so far. At the end of the day, if this consumer can't afford it, if the consumer doesn't want it, if it's not attractive, if it doesn't meet their needs, they're not going to buy it. They're not going to buy it. So Rivion, this plant was supposed to be operational last year. And like I said earlier, it's going to be in 2028. And they're doubling down on EVs. And they are going to gamble to get to mass market volume. It's called scaling up. And before you laugh, before you say poo-poo, nobody will ever buy him, remember, seven years ago, we laughed at Elon Musk. We laughed at the Model 3. We said there's no physical way he can go from building a hundred thousand cars in just 14 years combined to building a half a million cars a year. We were wrong. He's doing that right now. Best-selling EV in the world right now. Tesla Model Y, which is based on a Model 3, which, by the way, is built in three assembly plants around the world China, Germany, and Fremont, California. It can be done. Particularly now because of how costs get allocated. Bear in mind, if you are an EV manufacturer, you don't need to build a transmission plant. So you don't need the whole supply chain that goes with that. You don't need an internal combustion engine plant or sizes of engines. Not necessary. You got batteries. You standardize the battery for the battery size. You manipulate the battery management system depending on the size of the battery, the number of cells you got. You can standardize a lot of that. And when you standardize that, you make it easier to automate that. When you automate that, you get your cost in line. They're not variable anymore. And the more you build, the more you make over time. Rivion's playing the long game. They're looking at the whole world and saying, we can ramp up, there will be a spot for us. And we can turn from a small EV manufacturer to a mass market manufacturer by the end of the decade. And we're going to do it building stuff that people can afford to buy, which is much a survival move as it is a marketing one. So I wouldn't count Rivion out just yet. The on Again, Off Again, On Again congestion pricing plan in New York City is yielding results. You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_01: 10:22

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SPEAKER_03: 11:26

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting TechMobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at TechMobility.show.

SPEAKER_01: 12:10

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SPEAKER_02: 12:25

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SPEAKER_03: 12:54

Lincoln Town Car, what a luxury car should be. Boulevard ride, what we would consider nowadays a land yacht, seating for six for real, body on frame construction. That is what passed for luxury 30 years ago. Lincoln, Cadillac, to a lesser degree, Chrysler. The Germans still had their niche, but it wasn't as big as it is now. The Japanese were just starting to nibble into the market with the rise of Lexus, Acura, they were coming. They weren't full-fledged yet, Infinity. Those were names that people were just starting to hear about. But in 1995, that was that was luxury, folks. V8 power, four-speed automatic, yeah, room for days, and a trunk, let's just say 21 cubic feet. Yeah, that's a big trunk. Absolutely. And that's what they wanted. They wanted you to have the luxury experience. They didn't talk about safety that much, they didn't talk about performance that much. It was all about the look and the experience of what a luxury car should be. Traffic, congestion, big cities. These three have always seemed to go together here in the United States. In New York City, leaders decided to do something that no other American city had ever attempted, ha, not even in California. Subject motorists to a fee in order to access a part of the city. Basically, Lower Manhattan, south of 59th Street. The goal of this project was to reduce motor vehicle traffic in the borough during certain times, and to change behaviors and traffic patterns, not to mention to raise money for public transportation, which they were counting on. Did it work? We have an update. This is topic A. It was set originally to go into effect a year ago, back in the summer of 2024. Then it got deferred. The governor got cold feet and put the kibosh on it. It's currently in court right now because the feds think it's a bad idea. So let me talk about facts for a minute. Let's talk some facts for a minute. What is going on right now? Because it did become into effect first of the year this year. New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, better known as the MTA, announced a 12% drop in vehicles entering Manhattan since it implemented congestion tolls in January. What that turns into from then till now? 17.6 million fewer cars entered the congestion zone compared to last year. Let me say that again. 17.6 million fewer cars. You tell me, did it work? The Central Business District Tolling Program, which is the official name of it, charges drivers entering a portion of Manhattan in an effort to reduce traffic and air pollution. The revenue funds transit improvements across the region. We talked about this last year, and typical to New York City, the pricing was all over the place depending on what you were, where you were going, where you were from, what you were driving, whether you qualified for a break or not, yada yada yada. 17.6 million fewer cars entered lower Manhattan compared to last year. Now the governor is singing a different tune. Now the governor says this program has been nothing short of transformational, making streets safer, reducing gridlock across the region, and unlocking generational upgrades to mass transit, benefiting millions. This is the woman who put the kiosk on it last summer. Because right then public sway was against it. There were people for it, but there was a lot of sway. Folks were like, oh yeah, no. 17.6 million fewer cars. I want that to stay with you. Every crossing entering the Manhattan congestion relief zone has seen reduced morning peak travel times this year. Let me just give you, I'm going to give you the top two. They got a whole list and how faster it is now. The affected routes, the number one benefit coming from New Jersey, the Holland Tunnel, 36% faster than the same time last year, getting into Manhattan. Second place, Williamsburg Bridge, 23% faster, getting into Manhattan. Then they have others. Brooklyn Bridge, 13%. UK Tunnel, 16%, Lincoln Tunnel, 10%, Manhattan Bridge, 5%, Queens Midtown, and that's at 59th Street. I remember where that is. 4%. Those are all faster times. Right now, today, this is what's working. These are facts. Whether you think it's right to charge people or not, that's for the courts to decide. But right now, this legislation, these rules, these fees are having the exact impact that New York needed to have. And honestly, if you've ever been to Midtown or Lower Manhattan, trust me, this is a godsend. I have been there in the middle of the day. It is crazy nuts. And I've been there before this. I have not been to New York City and that part of New York City since the implementation of the congestion pricing, but I bet I'd like to go. If this works in New York, could it work in LA? Boston needs something for sure. Because Boston is hideous. And I grew up in New England. You all know that. I grew up in Massachusetts. And the last time I was in Boston, which was a couple months ago, it was a nightmare. Can you imagine being in a traffic jam to get to the airport, Logan International, airport to pick up my son-in-law, one o'clock in the morning, and I am sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic at one in the morning on a weekday? Boston could use something like this. And yeah, Boston has public transit, the MBTA. Sure does. A lot of people still drive though. And let me tell you, it is awful. With a capital A bad. Awful. Other cities are watching New York's attempt. No doubt Chicago, Boston, definitely two, uh, Baltimore, maybe. Cities I think that could use this. Philly easily. Particularly cities in the northern, northeastern part of the country, which have been around for hundreds of years that were retrofitted, literally, for cars, as opposed to built for cars like out here in the Midwest. We have the space, I don't think it would matter. But in those congested cities that are tight and congested and bumper to bumper, cleaner air, better quality of life, quieter, healthier, all good. All things that would benefit everybody. And did I mention that public transportation ridership was up significantly as a result, which is exactly what they wanted? Yeah. Imagine legislation that actually works the way it was designed. What's next? Would it work in Boston? Would it work in Chicago? I don't know. But I bet they're watching, and I bet they're taking notes, and I bet they're seeing how it might fit in those cities. Due to increasing electricity demand, the federal government is offering assistance to refurbish and restart retired nuclear reactors across this country. This is the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_01: 21:26

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SPEAKER_03: 21:55

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. It's no secret that the demand for electricity is expected to grow substantially in the coming years. AI, data centers, EVs, and the general trend towards more electrification in our daily lives is pushing the grid and electricity demand higher. As a result, there continues to be a number of conversations and activities focused on relatively quick solutions. Restarting retired nuclear plants is one such plan. And the feds are putting money on the problem. This is topic B. What do you do? We have talked about the condition of the grid in previous visits. We have talked about the dramatic need to upgrade it all, and how it would cost billions, if not trillions, of dollars across this great land of ours to get there. Unfortunately, demand and need don't wait. So what do you do? Well, you can extend the life of operating cold-fired plants. And to a degree, some of that is happening. The problem with that is it's like any long-term asset. Corporations have what they call life cycle accounting. Life cycle accounting says that we know that this asset is good for so many years. It's got a life of X years. As a result, we know how much it's going to cost to maintain it, how much money we've got to put in to make to for maintenance to make it work, acceptable, and be dependable. When these assets get to end of life, they're usually pretty worn out. And usually by that time, you know, they don't it's cheaper to build a new one if you could. The issue here is that the economics don't work for coal-pired plants anymore. And if you're trying to do clean, eh, natural gas is kind of a stopgap. It's where the EPA pushed a lot of utilities in recent years, and it definitely has less hydrocarbons than a coal-fired plant, but it still emits greenhouse gases. What do you do? Well, we've also talked about small modular nuclear reactors. But to this as of this, as of our visit today in September 2025, there's not even a pilot plant online anywhere in the United States. Oh, there are companies looking at it, there are companies making progress towards it, they're building a few in Canada, but nobody's online with one yet. So you're maybe five, ten years away because first you got to build it, then you got to prove it. It hasn't been built or proven. It's still theory at this point. Okay, so maybe renewables. Okay, let's talk renewables. Let's talk about both sides. We've talked about the positive side, let's talk the negative side. The negative side about renewables is that you either have a lot or nothing. When it's windy, when it's sunny, you have it and you generate power. And you can mitigate some of that in battery storage systems. But unfortunately, battery storage systems are not a long-term solution. And we'll talk about that in this next segment. But for now, it's great for storing it for a few days, maybe a few weeks, but much beyond that, yeah, it doesn't really work all that well. So it's part of the solution, but it's not the full answer. What you need is power for what they call base load. Spinnable, regular, reliable, ready power for base load. If it's going to take you two to three years and maybe three to four hundred million dollars to refurbish a coal plant that it got to the end of its useful life, it would be reasonable that the utility, be they a for-profit company or even a co-op, would ask, can we get a rate of return? If we spend all this money, would the regulators allow us to run it? You'd have to run it five, ten, fifteen years to get your money back out of it, and it would still take you two to three years to refurbish the plant to get it back online and reliable. Okay? That doesn't make too much sense. So you're left with an interesting alternative. The United States of America has many nuclear power plants. No, you probably didn't believe that. With all the negative publicity they've gotten in the last 40 years from Three Mile Island. Uh, if you're a certain age, you might remember Chernobyl in Russia. Uh, you might remember if you're really older, like me, you might remember a New Hampshire project called Seabrook. Over budget, a lot of damage, bad news. And the traditional nuclear power industry basically imploded. Didn't go away, but imploded. But yet, we have a number of these that did come online in the 60s and 70s. Some recently retired. This story revolves around the federal government uh working with a private company to bring a retired nuclear plant back online. And the name of this plant is the Palisades Nuclear Station, and it's located along the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan. All told between the state and the feds, it probably put in about a half a billion dollars. It was decommissioned three years ago. It's gonna take a year or two to get it back online. And right now, right now, at this moment, there are over 600 people working to get that plant back up online. Why would you go that far? Well, like renewables, there's no there's no greenhouse gases. Like coal, it's reliable. You know, it's it you can use that for base level power in order to bolster the grid. Base level power is it's available when I need it for demand. And then I can count it in my base. I don't have to be subject to the weather. I don't have to be subject to the quality of my energy storage systems. I can bring this online and run with it. Now, there is one major problem with them, it's when those nuclear rods get spent, and that's a whole nother conversation. We've had that part of that conversation before. We're not going to rehash it today. Another utility is looking at restarting Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. If that name rings a bell, it goes back roughly 46 years to when unit number two at Three Mile Island experienced a thermal runaway. And it had to shut it down forever. They shut the companion unit one down as well because usually when they build these, they build them in twos. Unit one was fine. Unit two, however, not so much. They are looking to restart this, and that's In part thanks to a long-term power purchase agreement with Microsoft. It no matter which way you come out of this to generate power in the United States of America, it's gonna cost millions, if not billions. The government has invested interest in national security to make sure that electrical power is reliable, resilient, and available. For all the reasons that you might imagine. So they're putting some money in. And yeah, it started with the previous administration. The current administration is making sure that money goes to these projects so that can happen. They're hoping to bring uh SMRs to the market in the next 10 to 15 years, and it could be a major part of the mix, but right now they're not. And they have a lot of advantages, but again, unproven. Right now they're theory. So it's refurbish the old-style nuclear power plants and bring them current and bring them online in an attempt as part of the answer to resolve our thirst for electricity. Can energy be stored in common sand? One Finland company thinks so. That's next. We are the Tech Mobility Show.

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SPEAKER_03: 31:54

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings of the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. That's Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_01: 32:24

In business, opportunity doesn't wait, and neither should you. At Playbook Investors Network, we connect visionary entrepreneurs with the strategies, resources, and capital they need to win. Whether you're launching, scaling, or reimagining your business, our network turns ambition into measurable success. Your vision deserves more than a plan. It deserves a playbook that works. Playbook Investors Network, where bold ideas meet bold results. Visit pincommunity.org today.

SPEAKER_03: 32:56

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. Imagine a sand battery that stores excess renewable electricity as heat, offering a long-lasting, low-cost, and carbon-neutral solution for meeting winter heating demands in cold climates. Sound like a pipe dream? It's happening right now in Finland. This is topic C. Yeah, I did not misspeak. I said sand. And in case you're wondering, it's some uh engineered fancy antsy sand. No. This is run-of-the-mill, regular, actually not even construction grade sand. Sand. Real, just regular old sand. We have talked at length about different ways to generate energy, store energy, transport energy. I've never talked about sand before. We've talked about salt, we've talked about mirrors, we've talked about a whole lot of different chemical combinations. Sand was not one of them. The name of the company is Polar Night Energy. And they're talking some phenomenal stuff here. So let me give you the lowdown, and then I won't get a chance to cover it all, but I'm gonna try to give you the highlights. At the core of the Finland sand battery is a deceptively simple yet technologically sophisticated process. It involves resistive heating of granular material to temperatures between 500 and 600 degrees Celsius, which are right around in the vicinity of 750 degrees, within heavily insulated steel silos. The silos really look like grain silos, actually. This method converts surplus renewable energy, electricity, typically from wind or solar, into heat, which it retains for extended periods with minimal loss. Let me break this down to you. You think as little temperatures? Mm-mm. I looked it up. And what you're talking about are temperatures from as low as a little over 100 degrees to as much as 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. And what they're looking at is taking sand, importing heat, and then using that heat at a later time, recapturing the heat, whether it's for a process, to warm, to to ventilate. What they're really looking at is three major areas. I'm sorry, actually, well, three major right now applications. To provide hot water for district heating and other heating systems, deliver hot air for space heating, drying, calcination, and other industrial processes, generate hot steam for industrial processes like manufacturing and power generation. Those are the big three. The one they're working on is electricity. A future power to heat to power product will convert stored energy back into electricity. They expect to have this testing next year. But right now, they can put this heat in the sand, keep it for months in these insulated silos, for months with a minimum degradation. And then when needed, provide it as a power source, which, being carbon neutral, it doesn't emit greenhouse gases, it doesn't require any more energy. They're just turning it back into something they can use. And in a cold climate in Finland, this makes like total sense for them. And the beautiful part is that they need this low-cost, long duration of carbo neutral storage as an option. As they get more into renewables, this is a better solution than even uh repurposed EV batteries because it keeps it longer, even longer, than the batteries can hold a charge. It's crazy. I mean, it's really crazy. One installation can store up to a hundred megawatt hours of thermal energy enough to meet a local community's heating needs for an entire month during the summer. Remember, we're talking Finland. Here's something else, and I'm talking Finland. This sand battery, its ability to store released heat slowly over time, aligns perfectly with their district heating networks, especially in towns actively phasing out peat and coal. This shift is crucial, considering fossil fuel plants generate nearly 40% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. Remember, they do it renewable, they put it in storage, it's available. And once they figure out how to take this heat and turn it back into electricity, game on, baby. Game on. Right now. Water, air, and steam. That you can get from it right now. So it's being you and they're being used right now. There's at least one town using it right now. Sand batteries can decarbonize residential heating and industrial processes that rely on steady low to mid temperature heat. Sectors like food production and small-scale manufacturing can benefit from this stable low maintenance alternative. And when we're talking low maintenance, compared to traditional storage systems, they report a 52.7% less downtime, over 50% less downtime. And it can remain idle without significant energy loss. Which makes it valuable for seasonal or backup applications. Did I mention sand? Sand. And again, this ain't a special sand. This ain't a fancy sand. This ain't a treated sand. This is sand. Like go out to the beach and get sand, sand, literally, sand. How much less expensive can you get as a medium? And they're not treating it. They're not applying any chemicals to it. They're not manipulating it in any way. But like everything, and yeah, because I get criticized that I don't tell both sides, okay, here you go. Barriers to adoption. While sand batteries offer impressive long-term heat storage, technical and market limitations shape their deployment potential. There is some gradual thermal loss over extended periods, making energy retention less efficient in colder or variable climates. Yeah, but compared to an EV battery in that same climate, which can lose 20-30% of its charge in days. It would take longer, even with that. The challenge they've got the holy grail, if you will, is converting that stored heat back into electricity at a high efficiency and is still trying to figure that out. Right now, it shines in stationary heat applications where factories and facilities can install storage silos and use cheap daytime solar power to charge the system. And obviously, they're not mobile. And fast response, yeah, not a strong suit. But steady, long-term, reliable power. Yeah, they got you. They got you for heat, for water, air, and steam. And hopefully, within the next year or two, they'll figure out the electricity part, and that would be awesome. Who needs lithium when you have sand? Sand. Just regular sand. In fact, sand that the construction sites don't want to use. Sand. I wouldn't say waste sand, but sand that is not in demand, sand. Just regular old sand.

SPEAKER_00: 41:54

This is the Tech Mobility Podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 41:59

Every great business starts with a spark, but taking it to the next level takes strategy, connections, and capital. That's where Playbook Investors Network comes in. We're your strategic partner for accelerating growth, navigating challenges, and capturing market opportunities before your competition does. Your business is more than an idea. Let's make it an impact. Playbook Investors Network. Your future starts here. Learn more at pincommunity.org.

SPEAKER_03: 42:30

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at TechMobility.show.

SPEAKER_00: 42:55

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SPEAKER_01: 43:29

You've got the drive. Now you need the right partner to make it happen. At Playbook Investors Network, we power ambitious leaders with the tools, insight, and investment connections to move faster, grow stronger, and lead markets. We're more than advisors, we're your co pilots in success. Because in business, standing still is not an option. Playbook Investors Network, fueling ambition and delivering results. Visit pincommunity.org.