Category: Messages from the Founder

An update from John Bysinger, Fēnix's CEO: Hello everyone, with the whole globe seemingly holding its collective breath for the moment, I wanted to personally share quite a few updates on related to the pandemic and a few other more exciting topics. There is quite a bit to read through here, consider it my part in providing exciting reading material for our followers self-isolating and going stir-crazy! First: Covid-19 I had hoped that we could begin installs without delays due to the global pandemic, however, it seems we were unable to work around the various restrictions and lockdowns we're all dealing with. With so much confusion about the crisis itself in the news, the team and I agree that we should continue our policy of openness and share specifics about how Covid is impacting our schedule. There are four pieces to the Fēnix that could be impacted; operations staff, battery supplier, battery tools supplier and installer. Our staff is all up...

The support we've received from Square has left quite a bit to be desired. Since this issue seems to be ongoing and still present, we have enabled our PayPal gateway again. Many thanks to our new customer Anita from out in the Bay area for spending time with us to confirm this issue as well as to identify the following important item for new customers to note: When using the PayPal payment option in combination with a discount or referral code, follow these steps: once the deposit is added to the cart, do not immediately select the PayPal buttons present at the cart display. Instead select the Checkout button. That will send you to the checkout screen where you can add your code, then scrolling down on the checkout page there is then an option to select the PayPal gateway for processing. We will continue to push Square for resolution on this persistent issue, but do have...

A message from our CEO, John Bysinger: The three most common questions we get are: When are you starting customer installations?When will I get my installation?Are you going to be able to add more range?How much range can I add?My Leaf lost another bar, I'm getting nervous, are you close?When are you going to start installing in [customer home town]?Can I get into the beta testing group? I really want mine sooner! These are all great questions, and we know our answers haven't been as clear as they could be. Answers like "We're starting installs in early 2020." Or "We're hoping to get around 40kWh in the stock battery location." And while both of these answers are true, we know all of you want more clarity. You want to see us really commit to a release date. And many of you just really need to get some help for your Leaf, and quickly, those bars keep going...

Actually, as of the writing of this post, we're at 402, and this is huge! Both for us and for our ability to raise capital to deliver on our commitment to all of you, our customers. When we started going after funding several years ago, we were told we needed to prove the market demand or no one would invest or lend us even a dime. So our goal for 2019 was to do exactly that, show proof that all of our research was right. One investor that has been a mentor of mine going on four years now gave me two great pieces of advice: "A customer is someone who has given you actual money in exchange for either an actual product, or the commitment to deliver a product later. If all you have is a list of people who say they would buy your product, but haven't paid anything to be on that list,...