Volcon Electric Powersports makes off-roading fun, and green

Volcon Electric Powersports CEO Andy Leisner on the customer interest they are seeing in their vehicles, and why electric power is the future of off-roading.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: Let's turn to Earth Week and electric vehicles. President Biden really making a push for EVs as part of his infrastructure plan. So we want to talk to one company that's positioned well as a result of that. And for that, we want to bring in Andy Leisner. He is the CEO of Volcon Electric Powersports and also Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian, the expert on this topic is joining the discussion as well.

Andy, it's great to have you here on Yahoo Finance. I understand you are the first all-electric off-road power sports company. I'm curious, what's the enthusiasm like right now for this industry?

ANDY LEISNER: Yeah, thanks for having me. The enthusiasm is mostly for electric on-road. We all know that there are a number of car companies and we have a number of motorcycle companies that make on-road electric vehicles. Off-road though, there are very few and really limited to just a couple of small manufacturers. We are the first all-electric off-road-only power sports company.

And the initial work that we've done aggregating a consumer base has been extremely positive. People are really looking forward to be able to recreate off-road with a quiet, clean recreational vehicle two and four wheels eventually as well.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey, Andy. Pras here. So I know you guys have a few vehicles coming out, two motorcycles, two kind of four-wheel-drive off-road vehicles. What kind of interest are you guys seeing from a reservation standpoint or order standpoint?

ANDY LEISNER: Sure, yeah. The reservations, back in November-- we launched the company in mid-2020. We publicly showed off our first vehicle, the Volcon Grunt, which is our first motorcycle, in October. And we began taking deposits for that vehicle soon after. And the deposit volume has been overwhelming.

We actually have far, far exceeded our production forecast that we have for 2021. We've had to add basically double our production capacity. We went from a three-line factory to a six-line factory working two shifts a day to basically fulfill that demand. We're essentially, more or less, maybe 15 points shy of pre-selling our entire 2021 inventory.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Congratulations on that being shy. I suspect you're going to achieve it. And you're delivering the vehicles now. But also the name is really cool. Where'd you get the name Volcon?

ANDY LEISNER: So with Volcon, we initially had a different name. And we employed an agency to help us work on a little better name. Obviously, the letters VOL sort of represent our electric world or our newly electrifying world. A lot of companies use that. And Volcon just seemed like a strong, tough, durable electric vehicle company.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey, Andy. Where do you think we can actually test drive these vehicles out? I know you guys have an online presence. But where do you guys see yourselves marketing these vehicles throughout the country?

ANDY LEISNER: Yeah. So our primary source of sales are direct-to-consumer. And as an off-road, off-highway vehicle, off-road-only, we can do that. And we will have affiliate retail partners that won't necessarily sell our vehicles. All of our transactions will be through our direct-to-consumer platform. But they'll provide a network of stores where people can see our vehicles in-person, touch them, demo ride them, and then ultimately make a purchase with us commissioning those retailers that help us make the sale. The retailers are essentially acting as an advertising platform for us.

Additionally, we'll have a demo tour traveling through the country, visiting retailing partners and events. We go to power sports events, hunting and fishing events, agricultural events. We found that the best way to sell one of our two-wheelers, the Volcon Grunt and the Volcan Run, is to put people on them.

We have seen people who have never written a motorcycle before, who've never wanted to ride a motorcycle before get on one of our vehicles, and in about 30 seconds, having the time of their life and coming back really enthusiastic about the product. There's no clutch. There's no gears. It's a low seat height. Doesn't make any noise. Doesn't have a lot of fumes. So it's very easy for anyone to ride.

SEANA SMITH: Andy, since you've seen such strong demand for your products. You've sold out-- or not sold out, but you've sold a substantially high number of your 2021 inventory. Have you accelerated your launch plans or some of your expansion plans as a result?

ANDY LEISNER: Yeah, expansion plans from a production facility-- we're in a temporary production facility right now. We've had to double the square footage of that. We're building a factory nearby here in Liberty Hill, Texas. All of our vehicles are built here in the greater Austin, Texas area.

And then what has had to expand has been our export business. We were initially looking to 2022, 2023 to really reach out beyond our shores and export these vehicles. But the demand from countries all around the world, whether it's Southeast Asia or Europe or Latin America, has been so high. We've had to put in place a really strong export sales force well.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Andy, do they make noise? I mean, part of the fun with traditional, gas-powered vehicles is the noise and the rumble of the engine. Electric's a lot faster. The torque is great. But can you get the noise option?

ANDY LEISNER: They make very little noise. The noise you hear is basically of the drivetrain. You hear the suspension movement. Otherwise, they're silent. And obviously, that's the nature of an electric vehicle. But it also comes in extremely handy off-road because you don't upset neighbors. You don't upset the wildlife.

A large number of our preorder customers are going to be using these for hunting and a lot for exploring places that a traditional gas-powered motorcycle wouldn't be able to explore because of the noise it makes. So yes, on-road, I agree, it's fun to hear the noise of the throttle. But off-road, having a really quiet, silent vehicle to explore on is really special.

SEANA SMITH: Andy Leisner, CEO of Volcan Electric Powersports, thanks so much for hopping on here and joining us today. And of course, our thanks to Pras Subramanian as well.