🔋🚚 Issue #138: What It Takes to Build an EV Company
Jim Castelaz shares how he founded his fleet electrification company Motiv, why the EV market is finally moving, and what it takes to scale a hardware startup in a complex and slow-moving industry.
💬 Welcome to issue #138 of StoryHouse Review
Good morning & happy Thursday. The shift to electric commercial vehicles is no longer a question of technology. The focus is now on execution as companies work to scale infrastructure, rethink operations, and drive transformation in an industry that has been slow to change.
This week, Claremont Colleges founder Jim Castelaz shares what building looks like from the front lines of commercial fleet electrification. As the former founder of Motiv Electric Trucks, Jim reflects on the inflection point the industry is facing, what’s finally working, and why the most challenging part of this transformation is no longer the tech.
It’s a Claremont Colleges world out there. 👇
~ Josh, Miles, Matthew, Pat
👤 Community Spotlight: Jim Castelaz & Motiv
Claremont Colleges entrepreneur Jim Castelaz (HMC '06) is the founder and former Chief Technology and Revenue Officer at Motiv, a leading manufacturer of medium-duty, zero-emission commercial vehicles. Before that, Jim was the Chief Architect who led Adura System's technical team in developing technology and IP for hybrid trucks and buses, initially for the Chinese marketplace. Since founding Motiv in 2009, Jim has worked on the challenge of electrifying medium-duty trucks. His company began with a focus on electric powertrains and later evolved into a full vehicle OEM, offering strip chassis and cab chassis platforms designed for real-world use and supported by integrated telematics, infrastructure planning, and driver-first design.
In a recent podcast with NACFE, Jim reflects on a turning point for commercial EVs. He explains that the challenge is now operational, rather than technical, and stresses the need for clearer language around core concepts such as power and energy. He also outlines the three metrics that matter most: range, reliability, and cost. After 16 years in the space, Jim shares what it takes to build through complexity and stay focused on meaningful progress. 👇
How did you get into this, and what was your first electric commercial vehicle work? What did you think about it then?
It's a big challenge. I moved to commercial vehicles circa 2009. Before that, I was in school, looking at fossil fuel consumption across different vehicle classes. I was actually looking at electric motorcycles for a while, but they don't consume a lot of fuel, which pushed me to the other end of the vehicle size spectrum, up to commercial vehicles. I started Motiv at that time with our vision to free fleets from fossil fuel, looking at this really hard challenge.
It was about the same time some of my grad school colleagues were transitioning from a solar car team to a startup called Tesla, focused on passenger cars. That was pretty revolutionary back then when they had the Lotus frame for the Roadster. Looking at the opportunity, I still think commercial vehicles, especially medium-duty vehicles, are ripe for electrification due to planned routes and returning to the depot every night. It's been a long and interesting road to help that segment of the transportation industry develop some fuel independence.
It’s been 15 years since we shared real work on commercial electric vehicles. Does it feel like it’s taken a long time to get here, or is this just how long real change takes in this industry?
It's been hard to put out a crystal ball on this. I remember in 2009, I had projections that 20% of the medium-duty industry would be electric by 2015, which clearly didn't happen. Heavy commercial vehicles have always lagged behind passenger cars in technology adoption and will likely continue to do so for structural reasons. That being said, it really does feel like there's an inflection point occurring now. Maybe a small part is regulatory. Sustainability mandates and ESG goals play a significant role in this.
Also, the products are much better than they were 5 years ago. We're getting more range and capability out of these electric trucks, and fleets are taking notice. They're still expensive, but the fuel cost savings are substantial. It's taking a long time; the industry takes a long time, but major changes are a structural change to the whole economy. Fleets that have to electrify face a challenge but also a good opportunity to lead and innovate. It's tough; it's not just the vehicle, but the whole ecosystem that changes.
Let's talk about Motiv. What were the original ideas, and how have they changed? It's important because if we're in a growth phase, how is Motiv ready to capitalize on it?
It's been a good journey. When I started Motiv, the vision was the same: free fleets from fossil fuel. We started and expanded our footprint and focus along the supply chain, beginning with the core technology—the powertrain, which includes batteries and motors. I started there because it was the area where the conventional industry had the least expertise; it was the newest technology. I thought if we could do that well, it would help move the industry forward. I started Motiv with that idea.
Over the years, we built initial pilot vehicles and developed relationships with end-user fleets. About five years ago, we pivoted, recognizing we could serve the market better as an OEM, providing an entire vehicle. We've been on that journey to move beyond the powertrain and supply complete vehicles as strip chassis and cab chassis.
When we spoke to large fleets, we realized that the truck is just one part of a very complex ecosystem. At our core, we're a truck technology company, but we found that data is just as important. We provide telematics and data reporting to help fleets evaluate their trucks, and we assist with charging infrastructure and the kilowatt-hour versus kilowatt dilemma. We are trying to serve the entire medium-duty vehicle market.
Listen to the full episode to learn more about what it takes to build and scale in the electric vehicle space. 👇
🚨Claremonster Call-Out: Adam Starr & Galois
Claremont Colleges grad Adam Starr (PO ‘18) was the former Head of AI/ML at cybersecurity company Proofpoint. He is now building the future of trustworthy systems as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Galois. Adam and team help modernize legacy C/C++ code using formal methods and automated Rust transpilation, delivering secure, memory-safe, and verifiably correct systems without compromising existing functionality.
Adam is looking to partner with teams working through valuable but challenging legacy code. His team focuses on systems that are brittle, slow to modernize, or too critical to touch without incurring risk. Whether you already have an upgrade plan or need help designing a strategic, incremental modernization effort, Adam and his team can step in at any stage, regardless of language.
They are especially interested in projects with clear business impact, such as security-critical systems, performance bottlenecks, high-maintenance modules, or anything holding back your roadmap. Connect with Adam below if any of the above sounds relevant for you or your company. 👇
💼 Who’s Hiring?: Tandem, Kapta, HubFlow, & LMArena
Claremont Colleges alum Brendan Suh (CMC ‘19) and Rafi Sands are the co-founders of Tandem, a marketplace that helps companies share office space. Since launching in late 2023, Tandem has helped hundreds of companies find, lease, and share office space in SF and NYC. Their online marketplace uses AI to make the office leasing process less tedious. Earlier this year, the company announced its $6.1M Seed round led by Collide Capital and 1984 Ventures, with backing from StoryHouse Ventures, Y Combinator, and others. Tandem is currently hiring for a Product Designer in SF.
Tandem also recently kicked off their new SF shared space for Y Combinator founders this summer (It’s free!). Get in touch with Rafi if you’re a part of YC S25.
UX Designer (On-site/SF) - ideally 3+ years of design experience working for smaller companies and a keen product sense
Milton Perque, former Chief Engineer of Echodyne, and Adam Bily are the co-founders of Kapta Space. Both were engineering leaders at radar platform company Echodyne, founded by serial Claremont Colleges entrepreneur Tom Driscoll (HMC ‘01). Kapta is adapting metasurface technology, currently used in electronically-steered antennas in the wireless communications industry, for space-based imaging and tracking applications. Earlier this year, Kapta emerged from stealth with a $5M seed round led by MetaVC, a Bill Gates-backed metamaterials venture fund, along with Entrada Ventures, Blue Collective, and StoryHouse Ventures. They are currently hiring for several open positions:
Claremont Colleges entrepreneur Nick Hubbard (PO) is the co-founder and CEO of HubFlow, which is transforming the logistics industry by automating freight appointment scheduling for brokers and carriers. HubFlow’s agentic AI radically improves efficiency and helps reduce CO2 emissions in the US trucking industry. They are currently looking for an AI Engineer who will collaborate closely with HubFlow’s founding team to architect and implement scheduling automation at some of the largest trucking companies in the US.
Claremont Colleges alum Cherry Park (SC) is the co-founder and Head of Marketing for LMArena, an open community platform for evaluating the best AI models. By comparing them side by side and casting votes for the better response, the community helps shape a public leaderboard, making AI progress more transparent and grounded in real-world usage. They recently announced their $100M Seed round. Cherry is hiring for the following open roles:
Check out the other ~2,000 open jobs at 280+ Claremont-affiliated companies here on our Storyboard. Plus, create a profile and enter your preferences to get alerted to new job postings relevant to you, be they the 300+ remote jobs, 150+ internships, or 500+ part-time positions available. We’ve published research that shows that Claremont-founded companies that disproportionately hire Claremont talent outperform — so pay attention, Claremonsters!
If any of these roles catch your eye 👀 , apply and mention StoryHouse Review. Or, if you are an employer looking to hire tip-top Claremont talent, fill out this form to have your jobs featured.
🗣️ Conversations on the Interwebz:
This week’s top read 🔥
Serial Claremont Colleges entrepreneur Laszlo Bock (PO) explains why AI’s inner workings are so challenging to grasp, how the job market may shift toward fewer entry-level roles and a growing need for strong managers, and why HR and People Analytics teams are uniquely positioned to help guide organizations toward a more productive and humane future. Laszlo is Google’s former SVP of People Operations and the co-founder of HR-Tech company Humu (acq. by Perceptyx) and synthetic data platform Gretel (acq. by NVIDIA).
This week’s must-watch 📺
Roya Amini-Naieni (HMC) is the co-founder and CEO of StoryHouse portfolio company Trilobio, a fully integrated robotics and synthetic biology platform that automates every step of the research process. She shares the founding story behind Trilobio, starting with her early interest in genetic engineering and the inefficiencies she saw in academic research labs. Roya explains how Trilobio transforms lab protocols into shareable code, enabling fully automated biology experiments that aim to eliminate human error, accelerate discovery, and unlock billions of hours of research time.
This week’s Claremont financing 💸
Congratulations to Claremont Colleges entrepreneur Todd Thomas (CMC) and his clean energy startup WoodChuck on securing $3.75M in seed funding. The round was led by an investor syndicate headed by Mason Fink and other partners, including NorthStar Clean Energy, Beckett Industries, Alloy Partners, and others. Woodchuck is dedicated to empowering contractors, manufacturers, and biomass energy producers by streamlining the diversion and processing of wood waste.
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🍽️ Quick Snacks:
📢 Launching Small City, Big Data…..Serial Claremont Colleges entrepreneur Sunil Rajaraman (CMC ‘01) is the founder of StoryHouse portfolio company Hamlet, a startup transforming complex information from local government into accessible insights for real estate developers, land use attorneys, and government relations execs. Hamlet launched a recent newsletter, sharing uncovered insights from thousands of hours of public meeting transcripts. In the first issue, the team highlights how the school board, planning commission, and city council discourse pointed early to Mamdani’s win in the NYC mayoral primary, showing how public data can reveal political signals long before the headlines catch up.
🌶️ Building A More Equitable Spice Trade….. Claremont Colleges entrepreneur Sana Javeri Kadri (PO '16) was recently featured in Fortune Magazine, where she shares how she built a multi-million dollar company by rethinking every part of the global spice supply chain. Sana is the founder and CEO of Diaspora Co., a direct-to-consumer spice business that works with over 1000 farm partners across ten states in India and Sri Lanka. The article highlights how the company has tripled in size every year since its launch, growing from a single turmeric farm into a nationally recognized brand.
💡 Featured In Princeton Review’s Best Value Rankings….. Unsurprisingly, the Claremont Colleges were named to Princeton Review’s 2025 list of the Best Value Colleges, recognizing schools with the strongest ROI. Rankings are based on more than 40 data points across academics and career outcomes, using survey data from administrators, students, and alumni at over 650 institutions. The Claremont Colleges were also featured in categories such as Best Career Placement, Best Alumni Networks, and Best Schools for Making an Impact. The recognition reflects the strength of the Claremont ecosystem and the real-world success of its graduates.
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