Answer extracted from The Pitch podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How does It's Electric differentiate its pricing model from competitors in the EV charging market?
It's Electric charges an upcharge on the base kilowatt-hour rate, creating pure arbitrage as their profit model. In San Francisco, where the base energy rate is 23 cents per kilowatt hour, they charge drivers 41 cents—with no service fees, credit card holds, or complex authentication, just a tap of an RFID or a mobile app.
The simplicity of this model is deliberate. Unlike traditional charging networks that layer on subscription fees, payment processing charges, or membership requirements, It's Electric strips away friction. Drivers get a straightforward price per kilowatt-hour, delivered through either contactless technology or a app interface.
This transparency serves a dual purpose. It makes the service accessible to rideshare drivers—a core customer segment—who already lose 20–30% of weekly revenue searching for and waiting at chargers. As Tia Gordon explains in The Pitch episode, removing barriers to charging adoption is not just a convenience feature; it's central to addressing the infrastructure gap that forces drivers offline and into lost revenue.
"We like to say that we're the disco and sunshine of EV charging, and we're trying to make things just better and not shitty."
Tia Gordon — Co-founder, It's Electric. Gordon's background includes technology work on the 9-11 Memorial and Museum of the World Trade Center, where she managed approximately 200 layers of embedded technology. She founded It's Electric during the pandemic with a cardboard and rubber prototype, which won $300,000 in non-dilutive funding from Hyundai's Open EV Innovation Challenge. Her company has since grown to secure $7 million in total non-dilutive funding and a $6.5 million seed round co-led by Uber and fail-up.
The arbitrage margin itself—the 18-cent difference per kilowatt-hour in San Francisco—funds the operational and capital costs of the charger infrastructure. Gordon's full breakdown of charger economics on the show reveals how this pricing supports the unit economics: at 40% utilization, a charger reaches payback in approximately 18 months and generates around $70,000 in lifetime value per unit.
This pricing strategy also sidesteps the complexity that competitors face in fragmented markets. Utility-powered chargers in cities like New York can cost $180,000 to install, requiring 18-month inter-utility connection agreements. It's Electric's building-powered chargers, paired with simple per-kilowatt-hour pricing, eliminate that infrastructure dependency while keeping the cost structure transparent to drivers.
There's an additional strategic layer: no payment friction means higher adoption and more charger utilization, which directly improves unit economics. The episode also covers how It's Electric has deployed 54 chargers across six cities in just 10 months, a speed partly enabled by removing the complexity that slows down traditional utility-dependent models.
See also
What is the competitive advantage of detachable cable EV chargers in public spaces?
It's Electric is the only detachable cable solution in North America, eliminating cables from the curb when vehicles are not charging, solving a key infrastructure vulnerability and reducing theft or damage risk.
How can curbside electric vehicle chargers be powered in cities where utility infrastructure is insufficient?
It's Electric designed chargers powered by spare capacity in buildings rather than direct utility connections. The solution uses the accessible power already present in urban environments, bypassing expensive utility agreements.
What is the environmental impact Ventrix claims for each ton of CO2 processed through its units?
Ventrix reports that every ton recycled through its unit saves approximately 1.1 tons equivalent of CO2 from reducing direct emissions and processing waste in a circular economy model.