The Automotive Leaders Podcast · Jan Griffiths

Why Reinvention Is Critical for Automotive Suppliers Right Now

·30 min·2 clips

Lori Lancaster describes a patented hybrid power transfer case that lets ICE utility fleets store energy instead of idling.

1. The Automotive Leaders Podcast episode "Why Reinvention Is Critical for Automotive Suppliers Right Now" examines how one Tier 1 supplier moved into energy, commercial vehicle and eVTOL work. 2. Host Jan Griffiths, who cites over 35 years in the auto industry, interviews Lori Lancaster, Vice Chair of Emotive Mobility and a former healthcare executive who joined her sister Andra Rush's companies about 12 to 14 years ago. 3. Griffiths opens with the claim that "reinvention isn't a buzzword anymore. It's survival," and argues that incremental improvement no longer works for suppliers. 4. Lancaster says that after COVID, when OEMs pushed suppliers to go all in on EVs, she was president of Dakota and chose a cautious path because the company lacked the historical background and capital, a choice she calls "scary" but right in hindsight. 5. She links EV range anxiety and weak infrastructure to transformers, saying energy companies told her at least 50% must be replaced across the U.S. with 12 to 18 month supplier lead times, which her tight-tolerance, scale-building skills could shorten. 6. She describes a patented hybrid power transfer case that stores energy from the gas engine in a battery so utility trucks, such as bucket trucks, can run equipment without idling, at a fraction of the cost of a 100% EV fleet. 7. She says Emotive Mobility invested in a European eVTOL company now testing with the Air Force and the FAA for light-sport aircraft certification, and showed the vehicle at CES, where some visitors pre-ordered. 8. On culture, Lancaster describes servant leadership as holding people accountable by explaining "the why," and says newer leaders sometimes wait too long to ask for help, while she wants concerns raised early. 9. She describes the Plant of the Year trophy, which drives yearly competition between sites, and says one plant that struggled in 2021 won for a second year with no recordables, though only about 30% of that team was there in 2021. 10. Suited to supplier executives and leaders weighing diversification beyond automotive.

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