Ep 02 PJ Tezza Founder/CEO of ModVans

In this episode, Hank Strange converses with PJ Tezza from ModVans about their models, features, and the choice of Ford Transit chassis. They discuss the vans' off-road capabilities, technological innovations, and solar power capacity. Hank and PJ delve into the advantages and challenges of a pop-up top, build time, delivery expectations, and future plans for ModVans. They also touch on customer service, extended warranties, and the future of electric commercial vehicles.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Alright.
So there you go.
You guys are watching the Vanasaur podcast.
This is episode 2.
And here, we get into if you don't know this,Vanasaur is all about exploring class b, RVs
Overlanding, and Vanlife culture That's right.
That's what we get all of it to here.
I'm joined by my friend, PJ of mod vans.

(00:25):
Welcome, PJ.
You're you're live in California.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I'm here in California.
It's not quite a sunny day here.
Is this is what we call the June gloom.
It's a little bit over asked, but it's nice andcool.
Probably, like, you know, high sixties.
And I'm sitting here in, our MH 1 X demo van.
I know you're in your van as well.

(00:45):
So, and and it it's actually a great place.
The the I'm here at our factory.
So it's super noisy inside, but it's nice andgoing quiet right here in the van.
So this is a great place to do a podcast.
Yes.
Is and and a couple of things I wanna get outof the way for everyone's who's joining us
here.
One, I am actually a very tiny infinitesimalowner of mod fans,

(01:07):
such as Thank you for your investment.
Yeah.
Full disclosure.
You know, I I met you guys a few years ago, andI really think that mod Vans is on the cutting
edge of this whole class b van game.
I know you guys obviously aren't the biggest inthat kind of stuff, but Not yet.
I don't know.

(01:27):
And this is this is me.
Some people, you know, other people might haveother opinion.
But I really do think you guys are on thecutting edge of that.
You're really designing and engineering things,that I don't really see anywhere else.
So Thanks for yes.
Thanks for doing that.
I'm just letting everyone know, you know, wherewhere my motivations are.

(01:48):
You know, I I actually came to see you guys outat the factory last year.
Lolo and I were out there, but you've moved.
Yep.
We moved to a new location.
We're 10 minutes, closer to LA for better andworse, in a town called Camarillo.
So we were previously in Oxnard, now we're inCamarillo.
It's about still sixty miles, West of LA.

(02:09):
Okay.
So it's closer to LA?
A little bit.
10 minutes.
10 minutes.
Okay.
What was the reason for the move?
What are the benefits you guys got out of
I mean, the biggest thing is we tripled our,manufacturing space.
So we were in 84 100 square feet now.
We're in 22,500.
We got 10 offices.
We're had 2 offices before.
So just a a much bigger facility.

(02:31):
We, we were just, you know, people were readyto quit because we were we were tooth packed
in, you know, too many people in two twooffices.
It the kind of joke was we need to hire.
We need to balance the bathrooms.
So we had to make the the female bathroom indeck.
That wasn't.
Laurie didn't like that plan.
And now we Hank, enough bathrooms to to tohandle handle the team, and and we've been able

(02:55):
to, hire a lot more people.
So we're kind of getting back into growth modewhere, we had done a lot of R and D in 2022
kind of grown that facility to build as fastand as many as we could, and we really had and
maxed it out for quite a while.
So it was time to move.
Okay.
Cool.
Let me just do a quick shout out to Go SmallLive Large.
Also, a Van YouTuber Van Sent Rick Youtuber.

(03:18):
Shout out to him.
If you guys aren't following him, you shouldfollow him.
I'm gonna make some plans to actually go on hislive that happens on Wednesdays, but shout to
Scott out there.
And, and travel dreamer says that they saidApple was small too back in the day.
Yeah.
Everybody has to start somewhere.

(03:39):
So there you go.
So, you know, that's that's the reason why youguys did it in you know, what are the what's
the downsides?
Are there any downsides to that, you think?
To the move?
Yeah.
You know, we did, originally, we had talkedabout moving, into a nearby state to still be
close to California to be outside some of the,really the cost of living here.
So we're we're still kind of faced with a highcost of living.

(04:01):
So, yeah, there there's trade offs toeverything, that, you know, the good side is
that we didn't have to really stop production.
We were able to really smoothly transition tothis space And, I think, you know, some people
are kind of, sometimes interested in thedetails.
So, like giving them out the actual space to tolease here really isn't that much any more
expensive, really, than a similar industrialspace in, let's say, Nevada or Arizona.

(04:27):
But, but the, but cost of living is is higherhere.
Okay.
Alright.
And let me also shout out to my friend,shooting gallery who's out there.
He says, well, it's crackalacking.
That's it.
That's his comment.
Go small, live large, says, thanks Hank wouldenjoy you being our guest on what's up
Wednesday.
So, yes, we're gonna make that happen.

(04:47):
Do you wanna start PJ by maybe explaining tofolks out there showing people or, you know,
just telling them about mod vans and whatexactly you guys do?
And if you want to here, I can actually pullup, either your screen or my screen and show
people some examples of what you make.
Everyone just Hank Sure.
I I
think that's supposed to be is if

(05:07):
you could share your screen, maybe pull up themod band's home page and just scroll down and
see them.
Yeah.
I will do that here.
Let me see.
I will, you know, first of all, what I need todo is actually take take some cameras off and
that's really the best way to do it here andput some cameras on and let's see.
I will change this, I think, to let's go to myphone.

(05:29):
So this is vans, if you want to, it'smodvans.com, right?
And folks can go in there and take a look.
Let me see.
Probably, I we're probably gonna get a betterlook at what's there if I go this way.
So we can go to the different can we go to thedifferent models that you guys can?
Which one do you wanna start with the MH 1?

(05:50):
Or
Oh, it's okay.
You could just show them, and and I'll kind ofexplain to people what we do while while you're
kind of just scrolling through Mhmm.
So so mod vans is is basically a brand new RVmanufacturer.
We specialize in class VRVs.
But, you know, we consider them actually moremultipurpose vehicles with camping features.
We started with a with a low roof, a a van, aclass VRV built on a low roof van that had a

(06:15):
pop up top to give you, you know, extra spacewhile you had the that low roof van to give you
standing space and space for two beds.
And we really, you know, my original, use casewas I wanted a vehicle for my family that I
could draw every day.
I didn't have a long commute for work.
I didn't actually drive every day, and I didn'twanna own a separate vehicle set a separate
vehicle only camping.
So I built this crossover vehicle that that hadcamping features, but also had enough safe and

(06:40):
comfortable seats, had two beds, thatparticular version had 5 seats total.
So that's how Modvan started.
And then, you know, fast forward 5 years, we'vereally doubled down.
We have 6 models total offered in 3 differentsizes.
So we have still our low roof, which is veryclose to the original one that we did.

(07:01):
Now we have immediate roof.
We have a lot requests from customers.
These are all, you know, we we've grown thebusiness based on the feedback that we get from
the market.
We've built a medium roof, model.
And now now we have a high roof extended lengthmodel that is more of a true class VRV that
would be, you know, almost a dedicated.
It depends on the person, but a lot of peoplewould consider that to be a kidded camping
vehicle.

(07:21):
Right.
That would
be the image 1.
Right?
The big one?
Yeah.
That's the the initial image on on the homepage.
And what I'm sitting in for this podcast rightnow, And, you know, one of the things that we
did was we kind of start off with that multipurpose modular feature.
So we're the only, you know, truly modularclass VRV that you can take everything out.
Like, literally, we have videos where we showit.

(07:41):
Everything behind me can come out, and then youhave a cargo van, and then you can kinda add
the components back in to get the thing youwant, but the thing that's different about hot
vans is that includes all the normal RV system.
So we still have an air conditioner.
We still have a heater, a furnace, you know, westill have microwave, kitchen sink, you know,
water system Hank and all that, but it's stillmodular.
So you basically, you could actually take allthe out.

(08:04):
And you can still almost use it as an RV, evenwith all the systems out.
So like I said, we have some videos on ourwebsite that kinda demonstrate that.
So that was our original, you know, focus wasreally innovating in the RV space and coming
out with these unique designs that forsomething that have never been done before.
Literally, we have patents and patents pendingon some of these design concepts.
And then in the last couple of years, whatwe've done, we've matched that up with a really

(08:28):
big push into technology.
And just as an example, we have the biggestbattery available in any RV that I know of.
It's over twice as big as anything else on themarket.
So, you know, people will be like, oh, youknow, these guys just came out with a with a 12
kilowatt or 13 kilowatt hour battery, and ourbig battery is 26 kilowatt hours, and we're
looking at ways to make that bigger.

(08:49):
But at the same time, we're still reallyfocused on, you know, how do we Hank that big
battery, but still be super innovative and andand practical.
So normally, to get a 26 kilowatt hour battery,you'd have these boxes in the back of your van,
and you wouldn't have any storage back therefor your adventure gear.
And what we did was said, no, that'sunacceptable because part of the point of
having adventure van is to go on adventurestake the things that you want, you know, your

(09:11):
kayaks, your surfboards, your bicycles, youknow, on your adventure.
So we came up with this idea of a floor batterywhere the entire floor is a 1 inch, layer of
battery.
And that 26 kilowatt hour battery actuallyalmost peers.
It takes practically no space inside the RVbecause it's built as a 1 inch layer of the
floor.
And then, you know, the last little piece isthe super high technology.

(09:34):
So we actually created custom circuit boards,and we wrote our own software, and we have an
app that controls everything inside vehicle.
So your lights, your plumbing, your heating,it's all controlled with a mod van's app.
And sure there's other companies that havelittle pieces of that, but there's nobody who's
built it in house and offers it as just of 1integrated solution, you know, one stop shop

(09:54):
where we built the battery.
We built the app.
It's all integrated together.
The power, all the battery power flows throughthe the circuit boards that we designed.
So it's a totally integrated system.
Yeah.
And, just to answer a question from Go SmallLive Large.
He said, which chassis does van, mod vans buildon?
What chassis, man?
Yeah.
So so I built the first time for myself.

(10:16):
And I did a survey of the market.
This is I'm an engineer.
So this is, you know, kind of my engineeringbackground coming into play.
Mhmm.
I've looked at the Strange.
I looked Pro Master.
I looked at the even the Chevrolet, and Idecided that the Ford Transit was the best,
available van at any price.
Price is not a factor.
The Ford Transit expressed.
And so I started with, I I built a van for myfamily, on the Ford Strange, and Mod vans now

(10:42):
only builds on the Ford Transit because westill see it as the best fan.
We Hank women during the supply chain.
We Hank ourselves some really hard questionsabout that because some other vans were more
readily available possibly in the market, andwe just, you know, I I kinda said, you know,
revisiting this choice again, I wanna stickwith the Strange because it's still, in my
opinion, the best van available.

(11:03):
Yeah.
I, I would agree with you on that.
And by the way, playing around with everythingwhile we're doing this.
Yeah.
So ignore me.
I'm always I can't I can't stop messing messingaround with things here.
While we're doing this because this is, like,the first few episodes.
So, you know Yeah.
We're, yeah, we're still figuring I'm stillfiguring everything out, but, you know, I agree

(11:24):
with you.
To me, personally, of the 3 main options,because in America, basically, is only 3
options for vans, right?
That would be the sprinter van from Mercedes,the Pro Master van from Ram, and and then
obviously Ford has the transit that's theoptions you have.
To me, the transit is just the best.

(11:45):
I think because it has all wheel drive, the theit's easier to to get maintenance for it and
all that kind of stuff.
It's also bigger.
I think the Pro Master is pretty cool, but itdoesn't have all wheel drive.
It doesn't come as big as the, as the, as thetransit.
But the Sprinter gets the biggest one.
I just don't think that power and all that isthere.

(12:05):
Go ahead.
Yeah.
So, we actually have some great videos.
You know, one of the one of the things thatkind of, you know, people have this idea that
the Runner is more capable off road, you know,because it came with 4 by 4 in the beginning.
Even though, you know, the transit, you can geta 4 by 4 aftermarket conversion, Then later,

(12:26):
Ford came out with an, an all wheel drivesystem from the factory, which they called all
wheel drive.
And I think there's another perception in themarket that somehow the 4 by 4 Mercedes was
more capable off road than all wheel drive.
And I really actually didn't know because Ihadn't bought mercedes and taking it off road.
And I couldn't really, you know, tell you theplus and minus.

(12:46):
But 2 years ago, we did a a great over landingride with a whole group of vendors and there
was 2 Mercedes Sprinters on that ride.
And then there was 2, of our vehicles that wetook.
We took a low and a high roof fan.
And on that ride, it it came, I mean, apparentto everybody on that ride, you know, and, and
I'm gonna, I'm actually gonna, I think we cando a little bit of a clip from that.

(13:09):
Let me see if I can
Oh, you want a screen share?
Yeah.
I'm gonna screen share and see if I can, getthat right in there.
Yeah.
See if I can, I will put that put that back on,and then I'll switch this to your screen share?
So I'm gonna do
Here we go.
This one, and it should be showing

(13:30):
I don't know if you guys do see it,
but yeah.
There you go.
Mhmm.
So this this this video in just a second,you're gonna see some video of this footage of
us going up this hill at 13000 feet inColorado.
Yep.
And here we go right here.
And then, you
know, it's gonna be hard to see in this littlepostage stamp, you know, but you can, get a
link to this, video later.
But the sprinters couldn't make it.

(13:51):
They had to be towed up the hill because theydidn't have enough power.
So this is actually the one of the sprintersthat had to be towed up the hill.
Another one had, you know, problems with thisrear differential.
And both owners were just saying, yeah, we wewe were really struggling on this ride.
And in contrast, the transits were just theydrove perfectly, you could just, you know,

(14:11):
drive them the way that you needed to.
And all, you know, debate about all wheel driveversus 4 by 4 went away.
So this is a a picture of, our MH 1 going upthese, you know, Rocky Hills, up in high reef
of Colorado.
So at the end of this ride, the one of thethings that came out of it was you know, yeah,
the transistor is way better.
And this is also one of the reasons that we've,you know, decided not to build a model on on

(14:35):
the on the Strange.
Yeah.
And I think that
this ride, our personal our personal experienceon this ride.
Yeah.
I think that the, what is the the transit is, Iwould say, like, almost twice.
I think with the Sprinter, you were getting theold let's say we talk about the old Sprinter.
I think it got as much as a 188 horsepower isas high as it would could would go?

(14:56):
And Yeah.
It it had way less work.
It's still, you know, the the Strange has wayless horsepower power and torque than the
Strange.
But also, I think the earlier Strange 4 by 4system wasn't as good for off roading.
It didn't have 5050 torque distribution.
It's putting a lot of the torque, you know, inone place, even if the other wheels were
slipping.
And then the new all wheel drive system, Ithink, is more comparable where it can do 50,

(15:19):
but they were still doing a lot of fun stuffwith the brakes to try to make it act more like
a four by four system instead of putting, youknow, like limited slip.
That that, you know, Ford basically, theycalled it all wheel drive, but you could put it
in mud and ruts mode, and it became somethingthat's very similar to the 4 by 4 mode that we
Hank.
Yeah.
Earlier versions of the Strange.
Yeah.
I differential transit k transfer case.

(15:41):
I yeah.
I think the power's a big difference, and I diddo a video at Overland West.
That we were both at recently with, Engel HaltAllrod.
So good.
That's it.
It's a German company when they make They makea real 4 by 4 out of the Sprinter van.
You know, they really lift it, put on the bigtires.
There's actually a shifter to go into 4 by modeand all that, but you still have the power, and

(16:06):
there's not there wasn't that much, you know, Ithink well, they had a V Six.
I think now it's a four cylinder.
Right?
They they just went down in power.
For Mercedes.
I don't think they went down in power.
I think the That way they went out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, yeah, they went down in cylinder count.
Yeah.
And I drove it.
We we'll get off this subject here, but I drovethe new all wheel drive, the new Mercedes

(16:26):
Sprinter.
And when there's nothing in it, actually, it'snot bad.
It's still not better than the transit.
It's not bad.
But when you put a lot of stuff in it, and ifyou guys want to know about that, we could PJ
is the expert on this, obviously.
But when you put a lot of stuff in there,you're talking completely different driving
characteristics.
Yeah.
And that's where that four hundred foot poundsof torque in transit really shows shines.

(16:49):
You know, it's just Yeah.
Yeah.
No problem.
Whatever you put in transit.
No problem.
Yes.
So we got a question that maybe we have to goback a little bit here.
Travel Dreamer 46 says, do you have integratedtemperature control for pets?
So, we do have an app that you can monitor it.
But it doesn't have like a specific pet modeyet.

(17:09):
So one of the cool things about this technologystack that we're delivering is we've delivered
you know, the X Series is what we call with ourbig battery system and all computer controls.
It's connected to the internet.
It's connected to the cloud.
You can or control your vehicle with the modbands app.
But we don't have pet mode yet, but that'ssomething we can add with the software update.
So, so that's where, you know, we're kindastill an early company.

(17:32):
We don't have all the really cool, capabilitiesof Tesla, but we did build that into the stack
and and we hope to offer it in the future.
In the meantime, if you want Pet Mode, Thereare 30, apps with temperature monitoring that
you can get, and then you can use that inconjunction with our very big battery and 12 AC
to to run your your AC.

(17:52):
So you would use this third party monitoring tomake sure your pets is safe and then you would
use the the the mod band's giant battery and ACto keep your pet cool.
Yes.
And, you know, I think you already said this,but there's videos out there.
Loew and I have done some videos.
We have even more videos come out, and we havea factory tour, which is actually it's not
obsolete, but, you know, you move factories.

(18:15):
I don't know yet.
Yeah.
But so I got
a new task to keep up with mod vans, Hank.
Yeah.
I know.
I know, man.
But, you know, we'll we'll I'm still gonna putthat factory tour video up because I think it's
really good and there's lots of tech.
But that point that people are asking, becauseyou do write the software and everything for
this, if you find that that's something a lotof people, want to have You it's very easy for

(18:41):
you to to just really write something to makethat happen.
Right?
Absolutely.
We have 26 temperature sensors.
So spread throughout the van.
And then we have, you know, big battery, andit's all connected to the internet.
So these are kind of the basic building blocksthat we have.
It will be fun to combine them in differentways to to solve these, you know, things that
people wanna do with their with their vehicles.

(19:02):
Yeah.
And very quickly, we've got less probably abouta minute here, but, yeah, that the big battery
that you have that takes up the floor, youknow, And then also, I think what is it?
You have six hundred watts in the in the roofsolar?
Yeah.
So the the, you know, we'll we'll round it to600.
The roof has 600, and then we have anadditional 400 watts that we can deploy as a

(19:24):
portable pack that plugs into the side of thevan.
So we have a 1000 watt solar available.
Yeah.
So you can actually replace some of what thatbig battery is losing, and I know you have 2
options because you've got a 1000 amp hour 1and a and a little over 2000 on that.
Right?
Correct.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The the the thousand watt solar, yeah, even the600, we notice it makes a significant So for

(19:45):
example, you know, that's really close.
The the the unit that's on the roof, the 600 isreally close to what the AC takes to pass.
So a lot of times during the day, you may noteven be using really practically using your
battery power, in order to run AC because mostof the power is coming from the solar system.
Yeah.
So there you go.
So we're gonna take, a little break here andshout out the people who help us, make this

(20:10):
happen, and then we're gonna right back.
And if you guys have questions, feel free toask those questions.
So as you guys might have already heard Lolaand myself our brand ambassadors for Sunshine
State RV.
And as Vanasource, I wanna take this moment toencourage anyone who is in the market for a
class b van to start their journey with SSRV.

(20:33):
Sunshine State RVs specializes in selling classB vans and B plus RVs.
That is the reason why they are the number onedealer in all of the state of Florida.
Number 3 in the whole United States SSRV willfly you right to their location in Gainesville,
Florida.
They'll give you a very detailed and thoroughwalk through of your van and they'll give you a

(20:54):
2 night stay at a local campground so you canget used to your van.
If you don't like that, you can actually havehands free delivery anywhere in the United
States of your RV.
We bought our coachman Beyond from SunshineState RV 2 years ago.
And over the past 2 years, we've seen how theytreat customers when it comes to warranty side.
Their service team is great.
Whether you bought it from them or not, everyperson that comes in there gets the same

(21:18):
service and care when it comes to warrantyrepairs, the same service, attention, and care.
And their team does a great job getting youback on the road safe
So if you guys are in the market for a B or Bplus van, consider Sunshine State RV.
We've got a link in the description that youcan use to see their China Strange RV.

(21:43):
I'm just gonna ask this question.
I see there are some questions coming in.
So everyone asks the questions, hit thosethumbs up.
Share this if you can.
It's a really good opportunity to talk to PJ.
I could make this show probably 5 hours easilyif PJ had the time.
But because, you know, just with the knowledge,I always tell one of the cool things I like

(22:03):
about the relationship I have with PJ is that Ican just run a whole bunch of crazy questions
by him, and they get all this, data back oreven explanations of things I don't understand.
So I think this is really cool to have thishappen, and we'll try to do it more.
But if people want to buy Ahmad Vans, right,they can't go to Sunshine State RV.

(22:24):
You guys have a very specific way you sell.
Not yet.
Oh, not yet.
What does that mean?
Not yet.
You know, we're not we're not committing to apath.
Right now, you We saw direct to consumers.
So
Yes.
I know you did see Nick from Sunshine State RVat the at the Overland show.
Very briefly.
Yes.
Yes.
You did see him.
What do people do if they wanna wanna buy myvans or just find out more stuff?

(22:47):
You know, the first thing is to do yourhomework because, you know, any class BRB, but
a mod vans, is also a significant investment.
So we, you know, we want you to do yourhomework.
We we feel like that, you know, that's gonnashow well for us, but, you know, we, we want
you to do your homework first.
So that could be involve calling us.
That could involve come into our factory.

(23:08):
We do offer, the ability to come see demos ormeeting us at a show, which is how we met you
at Overland Expo East.
We do have shows and we just at an events linkon our website.
They'll show you the shows we'll be attending.
So you could actually meet us, and we take 3vans to all those shows.
You can get a good idea of how the space, laysout.
You can call us.
You can email us with your questions.

(23:30):
You can get a Zoom demo.
Once you've done your homework and you feellike that modvans is the right, you know,
choice for you, then you place your orderonline.
So you literally, you know, go to modvans.com.
You know, you click on order now, and thenyou'll choose your, chassis, your your Ford
Transit.
We have some chat Transits in stock.
We're one of the very few people that that havethese awesome all wheel drive, eco boost, and

(23:55):
all the cool gray colors, available.
We actually have them for all models right nowso that you can go there and place your order
online and then choose all your options.
So if you want the big tires, you want thewinch, you can choose that.
If you don't want it, you can, you know, deleteit or not put it on your van, and you go
through that process.
And at the end of it, you'll you'll have orderyour van online.
I'll give you an analog though.

(24:16):
It it's like ordering a Tesla, you know, you'regonna go through that same process.
If you come to our factory, a great, you know,our salesperson will answer all your questions,
give you all the tour, but at the end of theday, he's gonna help you place your order on
the website.
That's it.
To do it.
Yes.
And and I think you guys are, you you you do alot of communication with people because there

(24:36):
are some options and, you know, it's gonnayeah.
That's probably what people are gonna yeah.
Lots of questions there.
So that's the thing.
Now and and I know I saw that you guys do havea stash of vans, and that's actually a big
deal, right?
Because these fans are becoming more and moreand more rare, and you've got them in different
colors, like my favorite, Avalanche, the gray.

(24:58):
Do you do you
still have all that going on or no?
Do you
We have a limited number of MH 1 chassis, whichis what, you know, what you you you were most
excited about, which is, you know, our class balternative.
You know, it's a high roof extended lengthversion.
But, yeah, we we actually have chassis for allthe models right now.
And we even have, some transit Strange,available for selection on the website.

(25:20):
So that's pretty exciting.
That's gonna be, a new thing from Ford, they'vereally decided to double down on the adventure
band segment.
So they're gonna offer, the transit with a alift kit to give you better clearance off road
driving, bigger tires to give you, moreaggressive tread and then also more clearance.
And then a few other, off road, you know, offspecific features.

(25:44):
And that package is called the Strange Trail.
So they generated a ton of interest.
There's almost no I haven't seen any customersactually taken a delivery of transit trail, but
we actually have some on order.
And we've actually have bins and build dates,and we put a couple of them, online for people
They are going to be expensive.
They're, there's no getting around that, butthey're, but they're amazing vehicles.
They're going to have all the electronics thatpeople want with a 360 camera.

(26:07):
You know, blind side information system,adaptive cruise control, plus those, off
roading features.
Yeah.
And I know Pete has a question I'm gonna get tothat here in a second, but you brought up the
trail.
So, you you haven't actually gotten any in, butyou do have VIN numbers.
Yes.
And, yes.
Alright.
So that is a that is a big deal.

(26:28):
I, you know, I there's all these rumors outthere.
I know that Ford is gonna build them and, youknow, I think we're probably gonna see them
later in the year or something, or at leastthat's what I hear.
I don't know if have any
I I've heard.
So we're, you know, obviously, we're kindastuck on forward.
So we have our ear to the ground all the time.
I do believe that the initial customerdeliveries are probably happening right now, or

(26:53):
they'll be happening in June sometime.
And then, yeah, our bill dates are not far off.
So, you know, we have vendors.
Sometimes, you know, you'll get a a VIN and abill date from Ford, and they'll have to push
it off.
Once you have that VIN number, you know, you'regonna it's not gonna be pushed off into the
next model year for sure.
You know, and it's pretty rare actually thatthey miss widely on the bill dates.

(27:16):
So, I mean, the trails, new models, you know,all bets are a little bit off, but I would say,
you know, having those, VIN number and And billdates from Ford is a really good, indication
that they will be coming in the next couplemonths.
Yep.
Yes.
I I believe they're gonna happen.
I know people think they're not gonna happen.
I believe they're gonna happen.
I've seen some evidence of that.

(27:37):
The I don't know how much I could even reallytalk about.
However, it leads me to believe it's going tohappen.
Let's get to Pete's question and then come backto the to Trail and Ford and all that since
you're Ford Centric.
Pete's, Pete Hat says I would love to buy atrue bee van with a top top, but hate the promo
Chassis, what made you decide to do the pop topon the Strange, and have you had any issues

(28:03):
with it thus far?
Okay.
So I'll break this down into different parts.
I explained in the earlier part of this videowhy we selected the the transit because I
believe it's the best van I originally put thepop up top because I really wanted to maximize
that multi purpose, capability of having asomewhat smaller vehicle And also, I wanted a

(28:24):
really great driving vehicle.
So I'll explain a little bit.
At the time I lived in Berkeley, California,and my idea of adventure was every weekend.
I had to work during the week but everyweekend, I took off into the mountains.
And the mountains were about 3 hours away, youknow, 2 a half to 3 hours away.
Sometimes you're sitting in traffic.
Often, you're in wind, because that's howCalifornia is.
You get into the mountains and the winds there.

(28:45):
And so I wanted something that was relativelysmall, but I still wanted kinda all the
features that you'd have in a an event with a abig comfortable bed, a furnace, you know, to
keep warm when it's cold, all those things.
And I kind of mapped out my brain.
The only way to get the features I wanted wasput a pop up top and have that bed, the the
primary bed to be above the the living space sothat it, you know, if you look at a, an

(29:08):
adventure van, Most of the adventure vans don'thave pop up tops.
And then what happens is that bed is in theback, taking up a ton of space.
And that works if you have the extended length.
But as you get into the smaller vans, thetwenty foot vans, and all of a sudden, you have
a van that is mostly a riding bed.
And so putting that bed up into the pop up top,just makes sense from an engineering and

(29:28):
architectural standpoint.
So that was what drove me to select the pop uptop.
And of course, you know, I thought that the thetransit was the best van.
So that's why I put a pop up top on a transit.
Have we had problems?
So, we have about 150 customers driving ourvans all across the US right now.
So, to say that we've never had a problem, thatwould not be true.

(29:51):
We have had problems.
I would say, the problems have been way lessthan I expected in the beginning that we
actually have very few problems Some of theproblems were growing pains.
So for example, you know, we had people that wetrained on how to do certain things like
sealing, the pop up top so that we didn't getwater leaks.
And we discovered that the training, you know,wasn't as effective as we had hoped it would.

(30:14):
So these are issues, you know, that that we've,just getting better and better at.
And I would say our pop up tops right now, youknow, super cool.
Like, we we're just not having very manyproblems.
The the, you know, but we still have, you know,we don't have any, vans that, you know, we
haven't been able to to solve whateverchallenges came up even from the early days.
Yeah.
I think leaks on pop tops is very common fromwhat I've seen.

(30:38):
You know, so that's definitely a a place thateveryone has to pay attention.
I've seen it happen even with the big guys, butthat's definitely a thing that could happen.
Right?
Since we're here, yeah, so I I'll give you thenitty gritty engineering.
So, actually, the the system that we use toseal the pop up from leaks.
It's pretty much tried and true.
So you can look at a company like SportsMobile.
They've been in business really since the 1960sputting pop up top on vans.

(31:02):
Mhmm.
And there's a ceiling system that everybody'skind of, you know, we we use a very similar
ceiling system that that sportsmobile does, andit works.
It it's a I mean, it has its, deficiencies orwhatever.
But then you have the problem of, you know,making sure because, these vans are not built
by robots, not yet.
So making sure that, you know, that it's built,you know, the engineering is correct to begin

(31:24):
with.
And then over time that the people that areactually doing the work or, you know, doing it
in the way that it was originally designed thatis good and leaks.
And so what we kind of discovered is we we wewhat actually happened was we had greatly
problem with we had no problems with leaks inour first, let's say, 20 or 30 pop up top.
So we thought we had it down pat.
Then we hired more people to help us buildfaster.

(31:47):
It makes sense.
And we gave them Strange, and we were like, oh,okay.
This is gonna be, you know, we we have thesystem.
It's been working.
And then all of a sudden, we find, you know,some of our newest customers are having water
leaks.
And what we, you know, we did an investigation,and what we uncovered was that even though the
person Hank had the training, he, you know,wasn't doing the procedure correctly.
So what we did was we kind of went to thedrawing board.

(32:09):
And we said, okay.
We need to improve our training.
We need to improve our documentation.
Also, we need to, stop these leaks immediatelyby doing water testing on every van.
And I've owned tents.
I've been a tent camper a long time in what Idiscovered a tent camper was, you know, not all
tents come, seam sealed from the factory.
So, you know, back in when we were kids, Hank,you bought a tent from, you know, your your

(32:33):
local sporting goods store and it didn't haveseam seals.
And what that means is if it rains, it'll comethrough the the holes made by the the needle
when it does the stitching.
And so they make a seam sealer.
And one of the first things you do when youtint back in those days was you'd seem sealed
if you plan to be
out there.
Caveman.
Yep.
And so, so, anyway, I discovered that, hey, ifI sprinkle my tent water on a hose that and it

(32:55):
didn't leak.
That was a really good sign that when I got itout in the field that it's not gonna leak
either because the hose you know, if you sprayit hard enough, it actually does a really good
job of simulating what you're gonna encounterin the real world.
And so that's how we test our vans now.
So, you know, the first like I said, 30 or sovans, we actually weren't leak testing.
And, you know, people are like, why didn't youleak test in the beginning?

(33:19):
The answer is because you know, we're trying tobuild a van that's somewhat affordable for the
masses, you know.
So we do have to pick and choose.
We can't exhaustively test everything thing.
So, you know, and as we learn, we're like,okay.
Well, we made a mistake.
We should have been leak testing from thebeginning because this is really important, and
we learned training is not perfect.
So even though our engineering system is great,training is not perfect.

(33:39):
So now, we do leak test.
And and and, you know, another one that kindagot us later was Let's say a customer, we have
one right now.
Somebody hit an overhead sign.
They put a dent in their van.
We're gonna do some repairs for them.
Now we actually lead test after we do repairsbecause we ran into the same problem.
We did a repair for a customer.
Customers drive around first rain.

(34:00):
You know, they get some leaks in there.
We'd learn that even repairs need to be leadtested.
So now we have, you know, our QA procedure isnew builds and anything that's ever, you know,
even looked at period penetration is gonna getlead tested again by mod bands before we
deliver to the customer.
And that combination has served us really,really well as far as leak go.
Yeah.
And that's where, you know, that's whereexperience counts, you have to have experience.

(34:23):
And I think just to to move on from this and goto some other questions, out there, the other
difference with your popped up is that it'spowered, right, versus I don't think I've seen
anyone else do a powered popped up.
Am I wrong
Yeah.
They're they're they're some smaller companieslike Modvance, the sportsmobile, Colorado
camper van.
They offer power.

(34:43):
You know, maybe they have a manual Well, Ithink mostly that everybody's gone to the power
in in my world.
Okay.
We specifically chose power from the beginningfor 2 reasons.
One is on the engineering It's actually simplerfor us than coming up with a a compensation
system like springs that would help somebody,you know, or or or air air cylinders that would
help, you know, get the the top up when aperson's not strong enough to lift it by

(35:06):
themselves.
The other one is we wanted from the verybeginning to be able to offer air conditioning
and solar panels.
And so we wanna put those items on the roof.
We wanna be able to lift cargo and, you know,being able to lift a £100 top plus, you know, a
£100 air conditioner plus a £50 solar system,is just not possible for you to most people
just can't, you know, push up.

(35:27):
Yeah.
So the so the air the air conditioner one.
So this is where, you know, we have the 3models.
When we built the MH 1, it was extended link.
So we were to get some extra length on the backand get away from putting the the air
conditioner on the pop up top.
And that worked out really well in the MH 1.
Our other two, models are too short.

(35:48):
They're 20 feet long.
And so in order to get a air conditioner, wehad to put it on the pop up top itself.
And it actually works really well for thatdesign because those are meant to be more SUV
replacements And then the air conditioner is inthe perfect place for for for that scenario.
Whereas the MH 1 is more of a class BRB, theair conditioner is more in the back in the bed
where traditionally be, but it's not on theimage one pop up top.

(36:10):
Okay.
Very good.
Alright.
Let me get this question from travel dreamer,he says, what is approximate?
What is the approximate bill time?
So there's 2 answers question.
How long does it actually take us to build avan?
And part of the answer is it depends on themodel.
So the m h ones are definitely taking us longerright now.
It's a new model for us.
So the m h one x is taking us the longest time.

(36:32):
Our CV 1, which is kind of the one that westarted with, we can build one of those in
about 10 working days.
So we can build those pretty quickly.
So that's that's kind of the technical answer.
The more practical answer is when can I get 1?
And that answer is best given by our website.
So if you actually go through our onlineordering process, you'll see it's gonna give
you a price which is firm and an estimateddelivery date, which is our best estimate right

(36:54):
now.
Based on the combination of what we have in thequeue in front of you and, you know, the the
inventory that we have when those are gonna beavailable and how long it's gonna take us to
actually build it once we start building youryour van.
Okay.
So have you I can't remember exactly how manyyou guys are building when I came to see you.
But have you been able to up how many vans youguys are working on at a time at this new

(37:17):
factory?
Is that or how many buildings?
Yeah.
So we can definitely build more at a time.
We just moved.
So we only moved 3 months ago.
So we, you know, I wouldn't say that we'rereally, we've hired some new people, but
they're still kind of in training mode.
So I wouldn't say our production hassignificantly increased yet.
We're right on the cusp of that, though.
We're right on the cusp kind of stepping upproduction.

(37:39):
But again, going back to, you know, thetraining issue, we do wanna take our time to
make sure that we don't rush the the growth toofast so that we have quality problems down the
road.
So, so it will take us a little while to get toour full production.
We're hoping this new facility, we'll be ableto build, 15 to 20 vehicles per month.
15 to 20.

(37:59):
Okay.
Cool.
Mhmm.
And you guys are gonna be there for some time?
You know, we haven't decided yet.
So we're still, you know, hoping to grow everfaster.
So, you know, if it turns out that we can tothat 10 to 15 within, like, let's say a year
and we're ready to make the next move.
We'll move again.
So we're, you know, we're not one of thesecompanies that just, you know, get comfortable.

(38:21):
And, you know, this is what we're gonna do fora while.
We're like, no, we're we're pushing harder.
And so as soon as we, max this one out and wehave the funding to get to the next place, that
will we'll be moving again.
One one thing that we have discussed is leavinga service center in California.
So so it could be that this facility stays withus for a long time, but is our primary
production facility in the future.

(38:42):
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Speaking of the future, I don't know whether ornot you're talking about this.
I'm assume well, I guess I already know this,but you guys are thinking about expanding,
going out of California.
You know, finding other places to build?
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, the cost of living here is justtough for us for for manufacturing.
We We're we are, you know, in Oxnard.

(39:04):
I haven't done a survey in Camarillo, but inOxnard, we were probably the top paying
manufacturer, and it still wasn't enough ourguys to to afford to own their own home, which
is, you know, the American dream.
And, you know, we kind of get that And, and so,you know, we want everything.
We want my advance to work for our employees aswell as for us.

(39:24):
So, you know, that's a a big fact.
For us.
Yeah.
And you guys wouldn't know this unless you'reactually looking, but it's one of the things
that I observed when I went down to the factoryvisited with you guys.
You really care about your employees.
You, you know, you really care about theirwell-being.
You you guys, I think, do a lot, you know, toto help out the employees.
And that's really the core of any business,right, until like you said, robots could do

(39:48):
everything.
You have to have people.
You have to have those people feel like it'sworth it for them to work for you, you know,
and then and you've gotta be able to retainthem.
Right?
In a lot of them to I mean,
I think there's different different people havedifferent kinda like what their goals are in
life.
My goal in life not to end up being a rich guy.
My goal in life is to end up being surroundedby, you know, family and friends.

(40:14):
And, you know, enjoy the company of the peoplearound me.
And that means that, you know, if I work thatbackwards from there, you know, when I build a
company, a to be a company that everyeverybody.
Everybody there is excited to be there.
They wanna come to work.
They can see how they're, you know, theythey're either happy with their position or
they can see how they can grow with thecompany.
So, yeah, we really want it to be a a fun andexciting place for everybody to work and we and

(40:38):
we work hard on that.
You know, we have, we just made some changes inthe production floor and, you know, right now,
we're we're literally asking the employees, youknow, what do you think about these changes?
You know, can you please let us know if, youknow, you feel bored or, you know, you feel
like this isn't a good use of your talent sothat we can, you know, adjust and and try to
accommodate.
You know, obviously, you know, it's, there is acompromise.

(41:01):
We still have to work every day.
And we have to work pretty hard.
Yeah.
But, you know, but at the same time, we want itto be, like I said, a fun and exciting place
where where everybody can, you know, one of thebig choices we have is, you know, do we promote
from within, or do we, you know, hire theseexternal managers when it's time to to open up
the thing.
And I have consciously, chosen over and overagain to promote from within because we want

(41:25):
mod vans to be a place where people seeopportunity.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Okay.
We got a couple of seconds here.
We're gonna go to the next segment And we'vegot some questions and things like that.
We'll get to right after this.
Lola and I are now official brand ambassadorsfor Coachmen Class B.
So I wanted to take a moment to tell you guyswhy we, as Vanasource, like it says on our t

(41:46):
shirt, are very excited about our partnershipwith Coachmen Class B.
First off, Coachmen RVs has been a leader tothe great outdoors since 1964.
So next is the fact that Coachmen really caresabout you as an owner, whether you bought new
or used After you buy your van, they reallytake care of you.

(42:07):
With Coachmen Klosbee, you have all theoptions.
Coachmen bills on all three van platforms.
On the Mercedes Strange, it's a coachmanGalleria.
Before Strange, it's a coachman Beyond, and RamPro Master is a coachman Nova.
Lastly, value for money.
We've had our van for 2 years and coachmanbills to the highest standards of quality and

(42:28):
craftsmanship.
You can't go wrong with a coachman class be.
So if you're interested, check out the link inour description and find the Coachmen van
that's best for you.
Alright.
We are back Pete said a couple things.

(42:49):
1, to answer the the, question about,availability.
He did look the website, it says it's showingmid October.
So there you go, that's not really too bad.
And, another question.
Well, here's what I wanted to say before evenget to this.
If you if you're looking to buy something, alot of times people buy the the person behind

(43:10):
that product more than thing.
Right?
Product is important because it's got somefunction or some reason why you wanna have it,
but the people who are selling it to you meansomething.
And I always say, well, look at how they treatthe customers.
Right?
That's really important.
How does that company deal with people afterthey buy something from them, and then I think
another thing to look at is how they treat thefolks who build these things, you know, the

(43:34):
people who work for them.
So, that's that's another that's another goodthing.
That's one of the things that I like about youguys.
I don't think you're just saying what you justsaid.
Hank you really believe that, you know, youreally and I've I saw that.
I I think you care about the folks who work foryou and, you know, that's That's a big deal.
So go ahead.
And and, you know, one thing that has workedout for us in this social, you know, media

(43:58):
world or whatever is Mhmm.
We
actually have an owners group.
It's a faith Facebook slash group slash modbands.
You know, you can actually anybody on thispodcast list of this, you can actually pull
that Facebook group.
You might have to, you know, beg yourgrandfather for, and a log in
through Facebook.
Yeah,
you guys go.
I don't log to Facebook, but yeah.
Okay.

(44:18):
That's fine.
Just, you know, get on there, give them a fakeemail address, whatever you gotta do, but you
can see what our customers are saying about ourvehicles and about how we support, them you
know, with their own words, you know, and I Ido feel like I, you know, that we represent
ourselves very well, particularly, you know, ifyou kind of pull up those same groups for other
manufacturers.

(44:39):
And and I do.
I I belong to all the groups.
And, you know, one of the reasons I belong tothose groups is to learn from their experience
in building RVs and the kind of challenges theyhave to try to not repeat those mistakes and
then also customer service.
You know?
What frustrating those people, and how can wesolve that?
You yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So, Pete, had this follow-up question He says,how does someone, get warranty or support that

(45:05):
doesn't live in California?
I live in Florida, and I've been consideringyour MH 1 and a coach from Beyond just were,
worried about not having access to a servicefacility.
So that's that's a question for Peter.
Question.
So so this is something that, we tackle acouple different ways.
So first of all, one thing to understand isthat when people come to take delivery from us,

(45:27):
we understand that many times their first,usage of our van is gonna be a vacation when
they drive their van home.
And it could be all the way to Florida fromCalifornia.
So we're kinda, you know, we're we're prepared.
We are proactive about that.
You don't need, well, I'm not gonna say this,but, you know, I see in a lot of groups where
people Hank these massive lists of things todouble check for before they drive off from

(45:51):
their RV dealership we purchase because, youknow, there's a lot of defects that are sitting
right there on the dealer lot.
We're gonna do that inspection for And, youknow, we have a big long checklist.
So so that experience is quite a bit differentfrom what I read in the groups about how we
deliver a van.
We expect you to to drive this, you know, on avacation straight at home, and we build it that

(46:12):
way, and we deliver it to you that way.
So, secondly, we have a 1 year warranty.
You know, if you actually look at the wordingof our warranty, technically, it it requires
you to bring the vehicle to our service centerin California to our factory, but that's
actually not what happens in practice.
What happens in practice is that we are willingto let you take your RV to any RV dealer.

(46:35):
So I I heard actually in your, your commercialsover and over again, that Sunshine State will
treat, you know, any RV owner just like as ifthey had bought the RV, at Sunshine State.
And I think that's an amazing thing in today'sworld because there's so many people,
especially out here on the risk.
You didn't buy buy your RV here.
You you know, you're not gonna get a serviceappointment.
The good news
is It happens.

(46:56):
It happens.
I've I've seen it happen.
The good news is because of our flexibility,not going to necessarily require you to take
your van to even an RV dealer.
You could take it to an RV repair center.
And then what we'll do is we'll work with youto pre authorized, any inspections or repairs,
and and to reimburse you if if that's whathappens.
For for the repairs, we'll send out part Andagain, you know, for people that have, concerns

(47:21):
about this, what they can do is they can get onour Facebook owners and ask real owners.
We have owners over the country.
We have owners in Florida and ask them abouttheir experience with, you know, what happened
when they did need to have some service done inFlorida.
And and see see how it works.
After the 1 year is up, we're still gonnasupport, whoever it is, because what happens is

(47:41):
actually interestingly, you know, now that I'vebeen doing 5 years.
I learned that not every everybody keeps theirmod bands vehicle forever.
You know, sometimes they will support the nextcustomer down the line, you know, the same way
that we support the original owner.
Also mod vans qualify for extended warranties.
Now that the pandemic kind of relieve some ofthe pressure from RV dealers and repair

(48:02):
centers.
I think that's a a a new option that's come up,and you can actually get one of those extender
warranties for out to 7 years, on both the thechassis, the Ford Strange, and the conversion,
which is the part that we build.
So so that's an option for people who, youknow, wanna have control over how much, you
know, repair could potentially cost.
And those are nationwide, those warranties.

(48:22):
And then the last piece of the puzzle is thatthe Ford Transit itself, still covers, you
know, the original factory warranty the thingthat's probably gonna be most likely to be
expensive and difficult to repair.
We do encourage customers to to get even theextended warranties from port on their, Ford
Strange chassis so that if their engine blowsup at a hundred thousand miles, that it could

(48:43):
be covered by that warranty.
Because the the the Ford Factory warranties arepretty affordable.
So if you don't get like, let's say, a 7 year awarranty that includes the the chassis itself
that go ahead and get that Ford Factorywarranty.
Those Ford warranty is you can take it almostany dealership.
That's that's one big advantage.
You know, we didn't talk about this with theFord Chassis.

(49:05):
4 dealers are to working on trucks.
They're used to working on vans.
You can go to 3 or 4000 four dealers all overthe US, all over Canada on the way to Alaska.
Many dealerships in Alaska can all, work onyour, Ford Strange fan.
Yeah.
So it's, you know, I mean, I think there's alot of people that realize this, but obviously,
if if you're getting a class B van, you've got2 things going on, the chassis, which, in this

(49:31):
case, comes from Ford or it could come fromMercedes a Ram, and then you have that actual
coach build, which some people call it.
I don't know what you guys call it, but, What'sthat conversion?
The conversion.
So the conversion side of your build.
And, yeah, I would agree.
So I've spoken to folks who, you know, who aredealing with eighties and the sprinter vans,

(49:52):
and they have to go on waiting list for, like,6 months to get a oil change, for example.
Or, yeah, there's certain areas of the countrythat are very for Mercedes Service.
Yes.
Now when it comes to Ford, can you run intoissues?
Yes.
You know, I live right outside of Gainesville,and my local Gainsville Dealership.
If you call them up right now, they'll say it'sa 2 week wait, and and they actually want that

(50:12):
van over there for 2 weeks sitting there, whichdoesn't make any sense to me, but I live I live
outside of Gainesville and, closer well,actually, I think it's, like, the same
distance, but in the countryside, there's aFord dealership that if I called them up right
now, they would probably tell me, okay.
Come in tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the morning.
Yeah.
So And
that's how it is.

(50:32):
We have I mean, we had, you know, dealers thattold people, oh, we can't work on your
whatever.
And then they literally called the nextdealership over, and they were like, oh, yeah.
Bring it in.
We love we love off roading in our in our Fordvehicles.
Yeah.
And I think and I think, like, I've traveled aand there's only one time I came across a Ford
dealership that had like a bad thing.

(50:56):
And
it was actually when I was in California.
And I asked you about it and you're like, oh,we don't like those guys either.
So, you know, that all of that could happen,but with Ford, there's just a network out there
for now.
I
think 10 10 miles away.
There's another dealership to choose from.
Yes.
And I think that's for now.
I know that with the electric vehicles andthings like that coming in, there are these big

(51:17):
OEMs that are planning on on cutting back ondealerships at etcetera.
But I think for a long time, we're still gonnasee a lot of 4 dealerships out there.
The one I go to in the country is really great.
I would say to people a 100% on that chassisyou want to extend that warranty.
I've owned my van for 2 years, probably alittle bit over 2 years, and I'm probably at

(51:40):
53,000 miles already.
So way past the factory warranty.
You know, just shop out that warranty likecrazy.
You
know, if you're not on the Advanced If you'remy vantage customer, we'll help you, but, but,
you know, the, shop out like crazy.
You can get a really good you know, I I don'twanna quote prices here, but to me, like, the
the the price for getting like a 100,000, milewarranty, you know, extending the powertrain

(52:04):
warranty a hundred thousand miles where theFord, you know, genuine Ford warranty was was
very approachable.
Right?
Yeah.
And it's worth it.
You've just got a lot of computers in thesethings.
You know, if you have wheel drive.
There's extra stuff that can go wrong.
And so I I think it's worth it.
And you have an expensive coach, you know, thatwas built on top of it.
So the the choice is different.
You know, we all know about the, you know,vehicle that has 400,000 miles on it and the

(52:28):
transmission goes and you're like, that's it.
We're cutting it off.
But what if you have, you know, a van that has80000, 90000 miles on it, and the engine goes
out.
You know, I mean, you know, and maybe no faultof anybody.
Right?
Yeah.
You're because it was such a significantinvestment upfront, you're very likely that
you're gonna have to you know, it's gonna makefinancial sense, but now all of a sudden you're

(52:49):
talking about a $20,000, you know, motor andturbo, with these modern engines, they are very
expensive.
And that's where I think they weren't he reallystarts to make sense.
It's like, okay.
You don't have to make that hard choice.
You're like, okay.
Well, you know, I'll pay the deductible on thewarranty or however that works.
Yeah.
It's gonna be worth it.
That's my that's my impression.
And, and I know I think we've got anotherquestion from Pete, but I I would just say on

(53:11):
this, and I could probably talk about this morein the future if we if, we Hank the time.
I don't know if PJ would wanna talk about it,but I really feel the tea leaves are telling me
p j that even forward with the transit, whichis the the most popular van in the world.
Okay.
They don't want to build them.

(53:31):
They wanna go electric.
Right?
They would rather have the commercial fleet go,fleet go electric.
I just recently looking at an interview withthe Ford CEO, and he said a lot of things like
this.
They just wanna go electric with it.
So especially commercial, which these vans fallinto commercial.
So you wanna think about this.
If you want to have a actual engine, you know,and you're getting into this, you probably

(53:55):
wanna about this more long term, and it isgetting more and more difficult.
When I talk to other manufacturers out there,they tell me that they're having a tougher time
getting their hands on specifically the fords,but it's even happening with the other chassis
that, that you have out there.
So I don't know.
Honestly, I I think a lot of that is related tosupply chain issues and Mhmm.

(54:16):
The kind of, you know, what happened throughoutwhole world and it's not just vans.
It's everything is that, you know, certainitems became very limited supply.
And, you know, consumers rushed in and the thedemand has just been way overwhelming the
supply.
And we haven't worked our way out of that yet.

(54:37):
So I think, you know, in in 2023, maybe thingswill return to normal in Ford Transit I I don't
even know.
You know, I I'm hoping 2023 will kinda be thenormal times, but, you know, you can't just you
just to give you a roll it backwards, when welaunch the business in 2018, 2019, I could just
go to Ford and order a van, and it would showup in 10 to 20 weeks.

(54:58):
I mean, just there wasn't a question.
You know, you'd had to have locations, but youcould get vans.
Whereas now, it's like, it's a totallydifferent level, but it's not because they
aren't running the factories.
It's because they can't get all the componentsthat they need.
To to build those vans.
So, I mean, I do hear what you're saying about,you know, the direction from a high to kind of
favor electric, but I don't really think that'swhat's causing the limit.

(55:19):
I think it's still a hangover We'll call it ahangover from the supply chain.
You know, I call it a bubble.
There was a bubble of missing pieces that isstill here with us you know, where that bubble,
you know, started during the pandemic, itarrived, you know, in the middle of the
pandemic.
And now it still here.
It's just a lack of inventory of certaincritical pieces.

(55:41):
And eventually, we'll build our way out of it.
You know, they're building more chips and allthese other things.
But, but we're not quite yet.
Yeah.
Okay.
There you go.
We could probably do a whole podcast on thisdiscussion, me and you.
Yeah.
Pete's Pete says he has one last question.
There are no limits to the questions here.
You can ask as well, except until we go offair, but, you can ask as many questions as you

(56:04):
want.
This is why I'm doing it.
And I know Pete you're very obviouslyinterested.
So he says one last question.
What's the typical CCC on your h one build out.
I'm not sure what CCC means.
Does that have to do?
I don't know.
CCC.
Yes.
Oh, okay.
I'm I'm not sure about that either.
Is that the weight?
Is that, like, maybe, you know, how heavy theOh, yeah.

(56:24):
Yeah.
Occupant cargo carrying capacity.
Oh, okay.
So we're definitely gonna wanna, yeah, buildout on the 350 chassis for the full battery.
It's gonna be I think it winds up being about a£1000.
So my the van that I'm sitting in right now, Ithink the, the final weight was 84100 pounds.
And the, the, you know, the the gross, vehicleweight rating was 96, I wanna say.

(56:48):
So it was a little over a £1000 for thisparticular vehicle.
But
then if you get the full battery, it's gonnaadd that extra £200 in.
It's gonna be closer to about a £1000.
Okay.
So you so what is that?
That £1000 that you have is what how much extraweight you could put in?
Or
So that's your Okay.
They call it occupant and cargo carryingcapacity.
It's interesting because very specific.

(57:09):
I mean, you know, there's Ford saying this iswhat's allowed.
And then there there's items that have to betaken in account.
They be taken into account.
And I'm just gonna give you an example.
When you do the weight, like the £8400, it doesinclude a full gas tank.
That's required.
By the federal regulations, but it doesn'tinclude water in the in in the freshwater
tanks.

(57:29):
And
with the idea that you could potentially fillup your water Hank somewhere else, if you wanna
to save that weight for cargo.
Yeah.
And all of this is for safety, right, becausethe manufacturer has to make sure it goes out
with a certain, capacity for extra weight sothat and then you, as the consumer buying, it
needs to be aware of that you don't overloadthe vehicle.

(57:50):
Is that correct?
Correct.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, you know, there's what the it's designedfor.
And then I think my personal guess is that inthe transit, they're also always making sure
that it's not too heavy duty because it mighttake away from F One Fifty sales.
Okay.
I can be wrong about that.
Yeah.
All of that.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm trying to avoid getting into deeperthings here with that, but, yeah, I think

(58:14):
that's a good point you may King.
Bravo hearing aid service says, are the chassiswarranty extensions available on vans already
made by the big players?
So this, I do know the answer to.
It really is gonna depend by, you know, vendorby vendor and van by van.
On the Ford, generally, you can get it, theextended chassis warranties, until the original

(58:40):
factory warranty expires.
So for example, the, Ford Strange comes withright now, I think a 36, 1000 mile 3 year
warranty, a bumper to bumper.
I know for sure you can get, like, on a modvan's vehicle, you can get that warranty.
You can add it anytime during that.
I think you can actually add it until thepowertrain warranty expires.

(59:01):
That's 6 years, sixty thousand miles, I think.
Don't quote me on that.
So you have some time to decide if you wanna doAnd then also, those warranties are usually
transferable.
The Ford warranties are.
Now, if you go aftermarket third party and geta warranty from somebody else, all bets are
off.
You know, it can be something different.
But generally, the Ford ones you can buy later.
And then I'm gonna guess that, you know, thatthe other, you know, like Sprinter and Pro

(59:23):
Master have competitive but you have to look atthe really specific details of what the
coverage is and what the rules are.
The, you know, the insurance companies, that'swhat they're doing.
They're they're setting down those rules sothey can make money.
And it's up to you to kind of review thoserules and make sure that, you know, your
purchase, fits your needs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Read the fine print.
And always, if you can, the Ford 1 will bebetter.

(59:46):
So let's see.
I think so just because, yeah, you're you'redefinitely, you know, they they tinted, are
willing to buy new parts rather than, you know,bringing yeah.
It's just a little bit more straightforward ifyou get the Ford Factory warranty.
Yeah.
And it's easy process too because you would,like, some of the other ones, you have to go.
It's like this whole dance.
You've gotta pay for the thing.
And then And if
you don't follow the rules, they don't pay.
That's the number one reason they don't pay isbecause you reauthorized.

(01:00:09):
Yes.
Yeah.
And that will be very frustrating.
Gunmetal guy has a good, question, I think.
We've got a certain amount of time here toanswer it.
He says, has anyone, had a deep dive discussionor video on the practical feasibility of the
charging network capability to sustain all theRV vans if they go electric going forward.

(01:00:30):
So that's an electric question.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is actually a really big complicatedquestion that
Right.
We could do a lot of analysis, but what, youknow, my my kind of main thing is if you've
owned an EV, which Hank you have, say yes or noto this, most of your charging is done home on
level 2 chargers.
And just to give you an idea, a level 2 chargerpulls about the same power as a large window

(01:00:54):
unit, large window AC unit.
So, you know, people that are panicking about,you know, the the load on the grid from
electric vehicles, I Hank, aren't really,taking into account the most common charging
scenario for most of us is that we're chargingat home on level 2 chargers.
So, yeah, I mean, definitely there needs to bemore infrastructure out there, to truly handle

(01:01:15):
electric camper vans, but I I don't think thatthe grid's gonna have a problem.
This is my kinda analysis based on engineeringprinciples.
Yeah.
And and and the time that we have I may have tobring this over into the wrap up section.
In the time that we have, I think it has to dowith that particular location where people Some
locations people charge more, at superchargersthan at home.

(01:01:36):
So there's all that kind of stuff going on.
I agree that for your most of your traffic,you're charging at home, but relative to vans,
you're gonna be traveling.
So you're gonna be charging on thatsupercharger network, and I have an electric
van, and I've owned a bunch of things.
Yesterday, I was actually pick I picked up myelectric van from c sucker that they it because

(01:01:57):
it was in their booth at the Overland Expo.
And on the way back, electrify America that Istopped at, there was several of those things
that weren't working.
Versus Lola was driving a Tesla, and she wastotally fine.
And the van has, like, a 115 mile rate.
So that makes it kinda worse.
Hey.
Goodness.
Ford signed up with Tesla.
That's what I say.
Yes.
It is a good thing that they did that.

(01:02:19):
You know?
Unbelievable.
Yeah.
I'm I'm shocked, but
Yeah.
I think I think Ford is thinking forward here.
I think Ford is very serious about shiftinginto electric electric vehicles for big
segments like commercial, like I said, and Ithink you can't do it.
You can't be practical about doing it unlessyou make some agreements with existing stuff.
We're gonna take a quick break.
There is another question in this vein.

(01:02:41):
I'm gonna ask that when we come back from this.
All I can We didn't even we didn't even goanywhere, so I can ask the question right now.
John John says, there has been problem withlithium and water being dangerously explosive.
What has mod bands done to mitigate thisproblem?
So there you go.
So all the cells that we use in our batteriesare UL listed.

(01:03:03):
So they're tested, exhaustively to, to meet allthese kinds things.
I actually don't even know, if the water andthe, you know, if you were to puncture a cell
and try to stuff it, you know, full of water inwould happen.
I do know that we have done thermal runawaytesting so that, you know, if one is punctured,

(01:03:28):
if one cell catches on fire, it's not gonnacause what they call thermal runaway event
where the other cells around it will catch onfire.
We have done some some testing like that.
And then, you know, like I said, the cellsthemselves are designed to to withstand water.
So so So this isn't a major issue.
I will say, just in general, anytime you have ahigh concentration of power, whether gasoline,

(01:03:51):
batteries, you know, anything, you know, youconcentrate a lot of power in one space.
Yeah.
You have to there have to be precautions andthere is higher risk than if you're
in a
place where there's not a high concentration
power.
Like Washington, DC.
I don't know.
I'm not trying to get I'm not trying to createtrouble.
It.
I wanna be had in Washington.
See.
Yeah.
There's a lot of power there.

(01:04:12):
And, just Castro says Strange Trail on MH 1.
Question?
Yes.
You can order those today on our website.
Yep.
There you go.
Listen, I it it it's, you know, I was talkingto PJ about this.
It'll be so easy for me PJ to have a reallylong extended conversation here.
I think an hour is probably a good time becausewe got to a lot of stuff, but I guarantee you

(01:04:32):
that there's questions that folks have outthere.
So I would say check out my videos because I'veI've got some very long videos with mod beds.
I do have a factory tour coming, and there'ssome are more videos coming from Lola and I
actually borrowing your van and living with itfor a few days.
You can also get in touch with these guys.
We're gonna get into all of that, but greatquestions from everyone out there.

(01:04:54):
PJ, where would you direct people?
I know you kind of answered this already, butas we're wrapping up here for the folks out
there who have probably a ton more questions.
How would they go about getting their theirquestions answered, especially if they're
interested in buying among that.
Sure.
I would say, you know, the number one resourceis gonna be our website.
We did actually just publish an update to it.

(01:05:17):
Within the website, you're gonna find, like,our news link you know, every article that
we've published about all the fun, excitingtechnology, and design innovations that we've
done, we we're kinda chronologically cronalog,you know, we have articles linked for for, you
know, the history of all of mod bands.
So you can just get there on the website.
If you wanna experience some owners,experiences.

(01:05:38):
Check out our Facebook group.
It's facebook slash group slash mod bands.
Pretty easy to find.
Just type mod bands in the air.
You can check out our Facebook page.
That's gonna be kind of redundant, I think,with the with the website information there.
And then we have a YouTube channel.
And, one of the things we've done on theYouTube channel, which is you kinda gotta dig
for it.
So this is worth talking about is we've curatedsome playlist.

(01:06:00):
So you have to go and find the playlist featureon the YouTube, but if you go through that
effort of finding our YouTube channel and thenfind the playlist.
What you'll find is you'll find the the greatvideos that, Hank and Lola have done with us
they're actually linked right there on theplaylist because, we love those videos and we
wanna try to get those out to our fans and weknow not everybody's gonna click on every news

(01:06:21):
circles.
So check out our YouTube channel and andreally, if you wanna get in-depth, maybe check
out the the playlist, not just the the list ofvideo see on the front page, which is our
videos.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And and and, you know, you can always leavequestions and things like that and comments
here.
And PJ will probably look at some of those.
So we're gonna wrap it at this.
One more.
Do you wanna take one more quick question?

(01:06:43):
Do you wanna if you want It's
up to you guys.
Yeah.
See a little bit.
Yeah.
I can do JD says any advantage to under chassismini split, be installed versus a 12 volt on
the roof on the roof to First of
this is a great technical question.
I own I own a bull collection of mini split airconditioners.
I
don't think I'm ready to sell them, but but Ihave really experimented with this idea quite a

(01:07:05):
lot and my conclusion at this moment is that,it's not worth it for a camper van.
It's just too much work, too much fillingaround.
You end up with a cold air blowing fromunderneath and set that up on top what you
want.
And a rooftop AC is just a such a simple andeasy to service item.
You know, when it breaks, you know, we just popa couple wires.

(01:07:25):
We pull lift it out.
We pop it back in.
If you have a problem with one of these splitunits that's installed and all throughout the
van, it's just a nightmare to service.
I do have some great ideas about how to tackleair conditioning, but those are gonna have to
wait because I I believe I'm gonna have tobuild my own air conditioner.
So that that's coming.
Yes.
I guess for that.

(01:07:45):
But, yeah, as far as what's on the market rightnow, I I just, you know, I know people want it.
I know they want that kinda lower profile.
Not having the rooftop AC, but it's just, youknow, it it's not worth it.
We actually Hank one customer actually paysomebody.
They took their mod vans via people.
They paid them to put in a split unit under thekitchen cabinet underneath.
They had a lot of problems with it.

(01:08:06):
And in the end, it didn't keep fan cool.
And so they actually paid us to install arooftop AC after the fact because it didn't
work for them.
So that's my experience with it.
That's good info.
And just think about this quickly.
You need to go back to a question someone askedwith get us getting service.
Let's say you live in Florida and are in Utahand you need a new AC, it better be one that

(01:08:28):
could be found really sharp.
The stamping rod and guess what they saw that.
And they
they can get the dramatic,
and they they and they could actuallyaccomplish.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The and so.
Absolutely.
Alright.
Listen.
I'm gonna wrap this up Hank so much, PJ.
I really, it, you know, I really appreciate youcoming on taking the time, to come on.
I would Oh, you're you're absolutely welcome.

(01:08:49):
I would encourage people out there to find outwhere mod vans is gonna be and get out to those
shows that are near you, Overland East iscoming up towards the end of the I think is in
October.
If you're on the e if you're on the East Coast,let's say you're in Florida, it's a couple
hours to get there versus the other place butfind out where they are and go there.
PJ and everyone else that works at mod fansthat shows up, at these events are very

(01:09:12):
knowledgeable, and they'll be happy to talk toyou, their nerds.
That's what I love about them.
So, check them out.
Yeah.
Mod vans makes what I think is a really, reallycool van.
If you're looking for something, different outthere.
So, gunmetal guy has more questions, which isthe next mod mod fans chat for more questions.
When's the next when's the next my advance.
We'll work it out, and I'll let you guys knowprobably a little bit more in advance so that

(01:09:37):
you can, come on and ask those questions.
Thanks a lot, PJ.
Stay right there.
I'm gonna end this right now.
Thanks so much, guys.
We really appreciate you.
We'll see you next week, I Hank, on Thursday at2 o'clock EST, and we'll do this again with
another company.
We are out of here.
Peace.
Alright, Hank.
Thank you.