Volta Inc (VLTA) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Volta Inc. Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) I will now turn the call over to your host, Drew Lipsher, Chief Development Officer. Mr. Lipsher, you may begin.

歡迎參加 Volta Inc. 2022 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）現在我將把電話轉給主持人、首席開發官 Drew Lipsher。利普舍先生，您可以開始啦。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss Volta's third quarter financial results. This call is being broadcast over the web and can be accessed on the Investors section of our website at investors.voltacharging.com.

下午好，感謝您參加今天的電話會議討論 Volta 的第三季財務業績。此次電話會議將透過網路廣播，您可以透過我們網站 investors.voltacharging.com 的投資者專區存取。

With me from Volta on today's call are Vince Cubbage, Interim CEO; Brandt Hastings, Chief Commercial Officer; and Stephen Pilatzke, Chief Accounting Officer.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有 Volta 的臨時執行長 Vince Cubbage；首席商務官布蘭特·哈斯廷斯 (Brandt Hastings)；以及首席會計官 Stephen Pilatzke。

We would like to remind you that during this conference call, management will be making forward-looking statements. including statements regarding our expectations related to financial conditions, outlook for the sector and company and our expected investment in growth initiatives. Please note these forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. These statements reflect the company's views only as of today should not be relied upon as representative of the views as of any subsequent date, and Volta undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements considering new information or future events.

我們想提醒您，在本次電話會議期間，管理階層將做出前瞻性陳述。包括有關財務狀況、行業和公司前景以及對成長計劃的預期投資的聲明。請注意，這些前瞻性陳述是基於目前的預期和假設，存在風險和不確定性。這些聲明僅反映公司截至今天的觀點，不應被視為代表任何後續日期的觀點，並且 Volta 不承擔考慮到新資訊或未來事件而修改或公開發布對這些前瞻性聲明的任何修訂結果的義務。

These statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. For further discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could affect our financial results, please refer to the company's filings with the SEC, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and its subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

這些聲明受到各種風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與預期有重大差異。有關可能影響我們財務業績的重大風險和其他重要因素的進一步討論，請參閱公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日的年度報告 10-K 表，以及隨後的季度報告 10-Q 表。

In addition, during today's call, the company will discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe are useful as supplemental measures of Volta's performance. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for or in isolation from GAAP results. You will find additional disclosures regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed on today's call in Volta's press release issued this afternoon and its filings with the SEC, each of which is posted on Volta's website.

此外，在今天的電話會議上，公司將討論非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標可作為 Volta 績效的補充指標。這些非 GAAP 指標應作為 GAAP 結果的補充而非替代或孤立存在。您可以在 Volta 今天下午發布的新聞稿和向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中找到有關今天電話會議上討論的非 GAAP 財務指標的更多披露，這些文件均發佈在 Volta 的網站上。

With that, I will turn the call over to Vince Cubbage, Volta's Interim CEO.

說完這些，我將把電話轉給 Volta 的臨時執行長 Vince Cubbage。

Thank you, Drew. And hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to review our company's third quarter results. Volta has completed 4 quarters as a public company and over this period has evolved tremendously. Volta was certainly one of the first companies to understand that to sustainably pursue the enormous opportunity of public EV charging, one would have to solve the issue of how to generate revenue before there was widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Our founder and talented employees solved this problem by creating Volta's proprietary and beautifully designed dual media and public EV charging stations, along with a robust portfolio of intellectual property rights that set Volta and that classify itself.

謝謝你，德魯。大家好。感謝您今天加入我們，回顧我們公司的第三季業績。 Volta 作為一家上市公司已經度過了四個季度，在此期間取得了巨大的發展。 Volta 無疑是第一批意識到，要持續抓住公共電動車充電的巨大機遇，就必須在電動車廣泛普及之前解決如何創造收入的問題的公司之一。我們的創辦人和才華橫溢的員工透過創建 Volta 專有且設計精美的雙媒體和公共電動車充電站，以及一套強大的智慧財產權組合解決了這個問題，這些智慧財產權為 Volta 樹立了品牌並使自己與眾不同。

Today, Volta has over 3,000 chargers in 31 states and has been recognized as having the country's most innovative public charging strategy. generating revenue and economic benefits far beyond just the intermittent cell of electrons to the early adopting EV driving community.

如今，Volta 在 31 個州擁有超過 3,000 個充電樁，並被公認為擁有美國最具創新性的公共充電策略。對於早期採用電動車的駕駛社群來說，產生的收入和經濟效益遠遠超出了電子間歇電池的範疇。

An understandable desire to build out a national charging network all at once and to do it on our own let our prior management into a high cost structure that was another step with Volta as limited capital and unnecessary given the ability to leverage other public and private resources. In a significant course correction that is well underway, Volta is taking the necessary steps to reduce our cost structure, improve our operations, professionalize our organization and bring our headcount back to rational levels. Specifically, in the last few months, we realigned our organization to become more efficient, which enabled us to reduce our U.S. workforce by 54%. This change alone resulted in a 33% reduction in our cash labor expense.

可以理解的是，我們希望一次性建成一個全國性的充電網絡，並且依靠自己的力量，這導致我們之前的管理陷入了高成本結構，而這對於 Volta 來說又是一個挑戰，因為資本有限，而且沒有必要利用其他公共和私人資源。在正在進行的重大調整中，Volta 正在採取必要措施降低成本結構、改善營運、實現組織專業化，並將員工人數恢復到合理水準。具體來說，在過去的幾個月裡，我們重新調整了組織結構，以提高效率，這使我們能夠將美國員工人數減少 54%。光是這項改變就使我們的現金勞動成本減少了 33%。

And we didn't just make the workforce smaller, we managed to make it better by significantly upgrading our talent in a number of key areas. For instance, our new finance and accounting team has reworked their department to significantly reduce the use of expensive offsite consultants and contract employees by simultaneously addressing the full financial control, material weaknesses and related controlled efficiencies that were identified in our prior management. Our teams work not only improved processes, procedures and systems across the company, but also eliminated approximately $15 million in annual unnecessary spending from the department.

我們不僅縮小了員工隊伍規模，還透過大幅提升多個關鍵領域的人才隊伍，讓員工隊伍變得更好。例如，我們的新財務和會計團隊對部門進行了重組，透過同時解決我們先前的管理中發現的全面財務控制、重大缺陷和相關控制效率問題，大幅減少了昂貴的場外顧問和合約員工的使用。我們的團隊不僅致力於改善整個公司的流程、程序和系統，而且還為該部門每年節省了約 1500 萬美元的不必要開支。

These are just a few examples of the changes in the cost side of our business. The financial benefits of these changes are ahead of us as the structural costs we were settled with are unwound and the efforts across the company to do more with less are implemented. As of today, we expect that the cost reduction measures implemented have already reduced run rate cash expenses by over $35 million per year on an annualized basis. Management is continuing to aggressively implement additional cost reduction measures across all aspects of the business, which are not currently reflected in these numbers. And while these and future plan cost savings initiatives are certainly meaningful, we do not expect or believe them to impede our progress on improving our core business for accomplishing our internal and external priorities.

這些只是我們業務成本方面變化的幾個例子。隨著我們已達成協議的結構性成本得到解決，以及整個公司以更少的資源做更多事情的努力得到實施，這些變化帶來的財務效益就在我們眼前。截至今天，我們預計實施的成本削減措施已將年度現金支出減少了 3,500 萬美元以上。管理層正在繼續積極實施業務各個方面的額外成本削減措施，但這些措施目前尚未反映在這些數字中。雖然這些以及未來計劃的成本節約舉措確實很有意義，但我們並不期望或相信它們會阻礙我們改善核心業務以實現內部和外部優先事項的進程。

A good example of this resiliency is our revenue this quarter. Despite the challenging macro environment and reduction of the workforce, Volta is still able to grow its overall revenue to $14.4 million, a 69% increase year-over-year; and achieved record media revenue of $12.2 million, also up 66% year-over-year. This is a direct result of our Media Networks front-of-store effectiveness, our exceptional direct and programmatic media sales team, our upgraded internal marketing team and most importantly, the support of our valued national advertisers.

我們本季的營收就是這種彈性的一個很好的例子。儘管宏觀環境充滿挑戰且員工人數減少，Volta 仍能將整體收入增長至 1,440 萬美元，年增 69%；並實現了創紀錄的1,220萬美元的媒體收入，同比增長66%。這是我們媒體網路店面效率、我們卓越的直接和程序化媒體銷售團隊、我們升級的內部行銷團隊以及最重要的，我們寶貴的全國廣告商支援的直接結果。

This quarter, we also continued our industry-leading pace in installing new charging stations adding 56 new sites in the quarter, bringing our total sites to 983 in 31 states and installing an additional 173 charge installs, ending the quarter with an installed base of 3,093 stalls. That's up 45% year-over-year.

本季度，我們也持續保持業界領先的速度，安裝新的充電站，本季新增 56 個充電站，使我們的充電站總數達到 983 個，遍布 31 個州，並額外安裝了 173 個充電樁，本季結束時充電站總數達到 3,093 個。與去年同期相比成長了 45%。

While our pace of installation is still one of the best in the industry, this quarter saw fewer total stalls installed due to management's decision to preserve our very limited capital during our ongoing capital raising process in response to current market conditions and in part due to the attractive investment tax credits, which become available at the beginning of next year under the inflation reduction.

雖然我們的安裝速度仍然是業內最快的，但本季安裝的總攤位數量有所減少，這是因為管理層決定在當前的市場條件下，在正在進行的融資過程中保留我們非常有限的資本，部分原因是由於具有吸引力的投資稅收抵免，該政策將在明年年初根據通膨降低的政策提供。

One impact of that decision is a reduction in network development activity and corresponding revenue in the quarter. Network development revenue for Q3 was $1.9 million versus $3.6 million in the prior quarter, which offset the increase in record media revenue in Q3. Given the difficult chemical constraints that we face, Volta will continue to slow its installation cadence until capital, including focus of the funds through the myriad of federal programs previously announced is more readily available. In the meantime, Volta will continue to support its media business and serve our excellent brand partners who value our unique offer.

該決定的影響之一是本季網路開發活動和相應收入的減少。第三季的網路開發收入為 190 萬美元，而上一季為 360 萬美元，抵消了第三季創紀錄的媒體收入的成長。鑑於我們面臨的困難化學限制，Volta 將繼續放慢其安裝節奏，直到資金（包括透過先前宣布的無數聯邦計劃集中的資金）更容易獲得。同時，Volta 將繼續支持其媒體業務，並為重視我們獨特服務的優秀品牌合作夥伴提供服務。

Going forward, Volta is initiating discussions with our site partners to develop ways to accelerate network development while also addressing the increase in costs of installing infrastructure. One example of these discussions is prioritizing a site partner's installations when they are willing to complete the permitting, engineering and site prep work necessary in advance, essentially make ready, taking Volta out of the construction process. and speeding installation.

展望未來，Volta 正在與我們的站點合作夥伴展開討論，以尋找加速網路發展的方法，同時解決安裝基礎設施成本增加的問題。這些討論的一個例子是，當現場合作夥伴願意提前完成必要的許可、工程和現場準備工作時，優先考慮現場合作夥伴的安裝，本質上做好準備，將 Volta 排除在施工過程之外。並加快安裝速度。

We are also realigned and significantly expanded our policy team to better focus on identifying and pursuing outlook private partnerships that align with the $7.5 billion in public grants the federal government has allocated toward public EV charging infrastructure build-out under the bipartisan infrastructure law. Volta isn't just asking for money and applying for navigating community grants hover. Like we did at the city of Hoboken, we have a much higher value-add approach, offering to work with local state and federal governments and NGOs to plan and optimize their public projects using our proprietary planning tool, PredictEV.

我們還對政策團隊進行了調整，並大幅擴充了團隊規模，以便更好地專注於尋找和尋求符合聯邦政府根據兩黨基礎設施法為公共電動車充電基礎設施建設撥款的 75 億美元公共撥款的私人合作夥伴關係。 Volta 不僅僅是要求資金和申請導航社區補助金。就像我們在霍博肯市所做的那樣，我們採取了一種更高附加價值的方法，即與當地州和聯邦政府以及非政府組織合作，使用我們專有的規劃工具 PredictEV 來規劃和優化他們的公共項目。

Our AI-driven PredictEV planning tool can ensure that all drivers in all communities have access to convenient and safe public charging, something that is core to our charging for all initiatives. And our media model provides an added advantage to communities by serving as a public and communications platform for delivering essential messaging like emergency alerts, weather alerts and information about community events. Volta currently has approximately 4,000 sign stalls that we believe may align with the objectives of the many, many government programs.

我們的人工智慧驅動的 PredictEV 規劃工具可以確保所有社區的所有駕駛員都能享受便利、安全的公共充電服務，這是我們「全民充電」計畫的核心。我們的媒體模式為社區提供了額外的優勢，可以作為公共和通訊平台，傳遞緊急警報、天氣警報和社區活動資訊等重要資訊。 Volta 目前擁有約 4,000 個標誌攤位，我們相信這些攤位可能與許多政府計畫的目標一致。

In short, we believe that Volta has the absolute right solution at the absolute right moment in time for this inevitable transition and evolution. We're not just the network of chargers, we're a powerful dual energy and media network delivering charging for all. We connect drivers to clean, safe and accessible charging brands to customers and partners to opportunity. We remain as excited as ever about the opportunity in front of us and the prospects for Volta's business and are working nonstop to address our near-term challenges.

簡而言之，我們相信 Volta 在絕對正確的時刻為這不可避免的轉變和演變提供了絕對正確的解決方案。我們不僅是一個充電器網絡，我們還是一個強大的雙能源和媒體網絡，為所有人提供充電服務。我們將駕駛者與清潔、安全、便利的充電品牌、客戶和合作夥伴聯繫起來，為他們提供機會。我們對眼前的機會和 Volta 的業務前景仍然感到興奮，並且正在不停地努力應對我們近期的挑戰。

And with that, I'll hand it to Brandt to review our commercial operations.

接下來，我將把審查我們商業營運的任務交給布蘭特。

Thanks, Vince. Volta's commercial organization made tremendous progress in the third quarter as demonstrated by the 69% year-over-year revenue growth that Vince just shared. One example, which you may have seen, is AdExchanger recently named Volta the Best Commerce Media Technology for our 2021 holiday campaign with Coca-Cola, demonstrating the power of Volta media network to drive measurable sales results for leading brands. And we continue to invest in our digital media capabilities, including launching 3D creative support and are receiving recognition for using our nationwide media network to educate drivers on the benefits of electric vehicles and reminding voters to cast their ballot in the midterm election.

謝謝，文斯。 Volta 的商業組織在第三季度取得了巨大進步，正如 Vince 剛剛分享的 69% 的同比增長所證明的那樣。您可能已經看過一個例子，AdExchanger 最近將 Volta 評為我們與可口可樂合作的 2021 年假期活動的最佳商業媒體技術，展示了 Volta 媒體網絡為領先品牌帶來可衡量的銷售業績的強大力量。我們將繼續投資於我們的數位媒體能力，包括推出 3D 創意支持，並因使用我們的全國媒體網絡向駕駛員宣傳電動車的好處並提醒選民在中期選舉中投票而獲得認可。

On the government and policy front, Volta has recently highlighted the power of our media model to fund first typical EV charging in disadvantaged communities with our collaboration with Tucson Electric Power, which will bring 8 EV chargers to communities in Tucson, Arizona with a high percentage of renters.

在政府和政策方面，Volta 最近強調了我們的媒體模式的力量，透過與圖森電力公司的合作，為弱勢社區的首個典型電動車充電項目提供資金，這將為亞利桑那州圖森市租屋者比例較高的社區帶來 8 個電動車充電樁。

And we're sharing this differentiated message with key audiences, including the recent National Governors Association Conference, where Vince took the stage to explain the benefits of Volta's model for cities and communities. And I'm excited to provide some additional updates with you all today. And before I go any further, I'd like to address how we're thinking about Volta's revenue in the context of the market conditions many other advertising power businesses have discussed on recent earnings calls.

我們正在與主要受眾分享這一差異化訊息，包括最近的全國州長協會會議，文斯在會上闡述了 Volta 模式對城市和社區的好處。我很高興今天能提供一些額外的更新資訊給大家。在進一步討論之前，我想先談談我們如何在許多其他廣告力量企業在最近的財報電話會議上討論的市場條件下看待 Volta 的收入。

The World Federation of Advertisers and Media Analyst Firm Ubiquity recently surveyed marketers from the largest multinational brands to understand how current economic conditions are impacting advertising budgets, and the results show that 3/4 of these companies are actively scrutinizing marketing spend, and advertising leaders must justify every investment. And under conditions like these, marketers prioritize digital media investments that deliver measurable business results. The Volta Media Network sits squarely at the intersection of where budgets are being reallocated, setting us up better than most to protect against economic uncertainty.

世界廣告主聯合會和媒體分析公司 Ubiquity 最近對來自最大跨國品牌的行銷人員進行了調查，以了解當前的經濟狀況如何影響廣告預算，結果顯示，其中四分之三的公司正在積極審查行銷支出，廣告領導者必須證明每項投資的合理性。在這種情況下，行銷人員優先考慮能夠帶來可衡量業務成果的數位媒體投資。 Volta 媒體網絡正處於預算重新分配的交匯點，這讓我們比大多數人更好地防範經濟不確定性。

Volta constructs its dual EV charging in media screens, in prime locations, steps away from popular grocery, shopping and entertainment venues. And by being immediately beside the front doors of those locations, our media network delivers the last message a shopper sees on their way to grab a card, providing advertisers a critical opportunity to directly influence the items that end up on that shopper's list. And Volta's suite of sophisticated measurement tools allows us to clearly demonstrate the revenue-generating power of these desirable locations.

Volta 在黃金地段的媒體螢幕中建造了雙電動車充電站，距離熱門的雜貨店、購物和娛樂場所僅幾步之遙。透過緊鄰這些地點的前門，我們的媒體網路向購物者傳遞了他們在拿卡途中看到的最後一條訊息，為​​廣告商提供了直接影響購物者清單上最終商品的關鍵機會。 Volta 的一系列先進測量工具使我們能夠清楚地展示這些理想地點的創收能力。

McKinsey estimates commerce media, otherwise known as retail media, is new category of advertising that closes the loop between media impressions and commerce transactions, could represent as much as $100 billion in ad spending by 2026. The Volta team, however, is wasting no time in capturing growing retail media budgets today by proving the sales-driving potential of our media network, which we've highlighted in previous quarters.

麥肯錫估計，商業媒體（也稱為零售媒體）是一種新型廣告類別，它連接了媒體印象和商業交易，到 2026 年，其廣告支出可能高達 1000 億美元。然而，Volta 團隊正在不失時機地抓住當今不斷增長的零售媒體預算，證明我們媒體網絡的銷售驅動潛力，這一點我們在前幾個季度已經強調過。

Finally, we are currently in the middle of the Q4 holiday advertising season, regardless of the state of the economy, this is a critical time for brands to promote their products and services. Volta is winning holiday campaigns with brand name advertisers like Coca-Cola, seeking to preserve and grow market share as consumers consider trading down for more affordable options.

最後，我們目前正處於第四季度假日廣告季中期，無論經濟狀況如何，這都是品牌推廣其產品和服務的關鍵時期。 Volta 正與可口可樂等品牌廣告商合作贏得假日行銷活動，力求在消費者考慮購買更實惠的產品時保持並擴大市場份額。

The placement of our media network outside of grocery stores and pharmacies also allows Volta to win campaigns for these retailers' private label brands. Nature's Promise, which is owned by Ahold Delhaize U.S.A. is one such example. As shoppers look to make their dollars go even further this holiday season, these more affordable store brands are attracted to Volta's Media Network as the optimal canvas to promote their cost savings potential.

我們的媒體網路在雜貨店和藥局之外的版面也使 Volta 能夠贏得這些零售商自有品牌的宣傳活動。 Nature's Promise 就是一個例子，該公司由 Ahold Delhaize U.S.A. 擁有。由於購物者希望在這個假期季節讓自己的錢花得更值，這些價格更實惠的商店品牌被 Volta 的媒體網絡所吸引，將其作為宣傳其成本節約潛力的最佳平台。

And while Volta's Media Network is set up better than most to protect against economic uncertainty, our business is not immune to macroeconomic forces. One such factor is the automotive industry's ongoing supply chain constraints. And without available inventory, many auto manufacturers are postponing vehicle launch campaigns, which often account for the largest advertising budgets. And despite this and other market forces, Volta's Media Network is yielding positive results.

儘管 Volta 的媒體網絡比大多數網絡更好地防範了經濟不確定性，但我們的業務並不能免受宏觀經濟力量的影響。其中一個因素是汽車產業持續存在的供應鏈限制。由於沒有可用庫存，許多汽車製造商正在推遲汽車發布活動，而這通常佔據了最大的廣告預算。儘管存在上述因素和其他市場因素，Volta 的媒體網絡仍取得了積極的成果。

In the third quarter, our media revenue grew 66% year-over-year and became further diversified across consumer packaged goods brands running retail media campaigns, entertainment clients and financial services brands. Exemplary of this strategy is the fact that our consumer packaged goods, or CPG business, grew 135% year-over-year.

第三季度，我們的媒體營收年增 66%，並進一步多元化，涵蓋開展零售媒體活動的消費品品牌、娛樂客戶和金融服務品牌。這項策略的典型例子是，我們的消費包裝商品（CPG）業務年增了 135%。

We welcomed many notable first-time advertisers in the third quarter, including Google, Neiman Marcus, Fiji Water, Peacock and Capital One. 79% of Q3 Media revenue was from repeat customers, including Cheap, Target, Disney, Bank of America and Coca-Cola, demonstrating the ongoing value our media platform delivers to leading brands.

我們在第三季迎來了許多著名的首次廣告商，包括Google、尼曼馬庫斯、斐濟水務、孔雀和第一資本。第三季媒體收入的 79% 來自回頭客，包括 Cheap、Target、迪士尼、美國銀行和可口可樂，證明了我們的媒體平台為領先品牌帶來的持續價值。

Now I'd like to move on to our charging solutions business and reemphasize what Vince discussed regarding Volta's focus on capturing federal grants. The Biden-Harris administration has made installing EV charging infrastructure along highways and within cities a key priority of the bipartisan infrastructure law in Inflation Reduction Act. And under this legislation, the equal distribution of critical charging infrastructure across all communities is of the utmost importance. And to that end, the federal government has announced its Justice 40 goal, which seeks to ensure that 40% of the overall benefits of these bills flow to disadvantaged communities.

現在我想談談我們的充電解決方案業務，並再次強調文斯關於 Volta 專注於獲得聯邦撥款的討論。拜登-哈里斯政府已將在高速公路和城市內安裝電動車充電基礎設施作為《通膨削減法案》兩黨基礎設施法的一項重要優先事項。根據這項立法，在所有社區平等分配關鍵充電基礎設施至關重要。為此，聯邦政府宣布了「正義 40」目標，旨在確保這些法案帶來的 40% 的整體利益流向弱勢群體。

Volta's media powered model generates revenue regardless of how many EVs are charged allowing us to construct chargers in disadvantaged communities, where EV ownership may be lagging and making Volta particularly competitive for these federal grants. Volta's dedicated charging solutions team continues to use our award-winning PredictEV infrastructure planning software to evaluate which of the nearly 8,000 EV stalls in our assigned construction and technical evaluation pipeline best satisfy the government's requirements.

無論有多少輛電動車充電，Volta 的媒體驅動模式都能產生收入，這使我們能夠在電動車擁有量可能落後的貧困社區建造充電器，並使 Volta 在獲得這些聯邦撥款方面特別有競爭力。 Volta 的專用充電解決方案團隊繼續使用我們屢獲殊榮的 PredictEV 基礎設施規劃軟體來評估我們指定的建造和技術評估流程中的近 8,000 個電動車停車位中哪一個最能滿足政府的要求。

By analyzing multiple data sources, including local economic and equity data aligned with the administration's Justice for initiative, PredictEV can identify locations that will simultaneously be competitive for community, government grants and valuable for Volta's media business. This analytical review of our installation pipeline will allow Volta to continue expanding our network in the most capital-effective manner possible in the years ahead.

透過分析多個數據來源，包括與政府的「公正倡議」一致的當地經濟和公平數據，PredictEV 可以確定同時具有社區競爭力和政府補助以及對 Volta 媒體業務有價值的地點。對我們的安裝管道進行分析審查將使 Volta 能夠在未來幾年繼續以最具資本效率的方式擴展我們的網路。

In closing, I want to reiterate the measurable value Volta's model brings to all of our stakeholders, drivers, advertisers, commercial properties, retailers and municipalities. While we continue to monitor macroeconomic conditions, including the impact on advertising spending by marketers, we believe Volta is set out better than most.

最後，我想重申 Volta 模式為我們所有利害關係人、駕駛者、廣告商、商業房地產、零售商和市政當局帶來的可衡量價值。雖然我們持續監測宏觀經濟狀況，包括對行銷人員廣告支出的影響，但我們相信 Volta 的版面比大多數公司都要好。

The prominent placement of Volta's charging stations and media streams near the front doors of businesses and our roster of digital native media capabilities enable Volta to continue attracting new customers and commanding larger digital advertising budgets.

Volta 的充電站和媒體串流位於企業前門附近的顯著位置，加上我們豐富的數位原生媒體功能，使 Volta 能夠繼續吸引新客戶並獲得更大的數位廣告預算。

With that, I'd like to pass it over to Stephen Pilatzke, Volta's Chief Accounting Officer, to comment on our Q3 financial results.

接下來，我想將主題交給 Volta 首席會計長 Stephen Pilatzke，請他對我們的第三季財務表現進行評論。

Thanks, Brandt. Turning to our Q3 financial results. For the third quarter, Q3 revenue grew 69% year-over-year to $14.4 million. Q3 media revenue grew 9% sequentially and 66% year-over-year to $12.2 million.

謝謝，布蘭特。談到我們的第三季財務業績。第三季度，Q3營收年增69%，達1,440萬美元。第三季媒體營收季增 9%，年增 66%，達到 1,220 萬美元。

We ended the quarter with an installed base of 983 sites, adding 56 new sites in the quarter. Volta's installed base of stalls was 3,093 on September 30, 2022, up 6% quarter-over-quarter and 45% year-over-year. The company installed an incremental 173 stalls during Q3. For the third quarter, we exited the quarter with 1,378 sites and 3,930 stalls in our signed construction pipeline.

本季結束時，我們的安裝站點基數為 983 個，本季新增了 56 個站點。截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日，Volta 的攤位安裝數量為 3,093 個，季增 6%，年增 45%。該公司在第三季新增了 173 個攤位。第三季結束時，我們已簽約的在建項目有 1,378 個站點和 3,930 個攤位。

Our gross margin, excluding station depreciation for the quarter, was 34% as compared to 32.5% gross margin in Q3 of 2021. We continue to forecast a 25% to 30% gross margin for the full year. Including stock-based compensation and onetime expenses, SG&A was $40.0 million for the third quarter compared to $55.7 million in the prior year period. We have made significant improvements to our SG&A levels and continue to work to reduce our recurring spend.

本季我們的毛利率（不包括站點折舊）為 34%，而 2021 年第三季的毛利率為 32.5%。我們持續預測全年毛利率為 25% 至 30%。包括股票薪酬和一次性費用在內，第三季銷售、一般及行政費用為 4,000 萬美元，而去年同期為 5,570 萬美元。我們已經顯著改善了銷售、一般及行政費用水平，並繼續努力減少經常性支出。

Adjusted EBITDA was $30.9 million loss for the third quarter of 2022 as compared to a $22.1 million loss in the third quarter of 2021. Net loss was $42.5 million for the third quarter compared to a net loss of $69.7 million in the prior year period. The company had a cash and marketable securities balance of $15.6 million as of September 30, 2022. Our anticipation for the full year 2022 CapEx is dependent on the company's ability to raise capital. Our weighted-average shares outstanding for the third quarter were approximately 169 million.

2022 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 虧損 3,090 萬美元，而 2021 年第三季虧損 2,210 萬美元。第三季淨虧損 4,250 萬美元，去年同期淨虧損 6,970 萬美元。截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日，該公司的現金和有價證券餘額為 1,560 萬美元。我們對 2022 年全年資本支出的預期取決於公司籌集資金的能力。我們第三季的加權平均流通股數約為 1.69 億股。

And with that, we would like to open the line for Q&A.

現在，我們想開啟問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today comes from Matt Summerville from D.A. Davidson.

（操作員指示）我們今天的第一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Matt Summerville。戴維森。

A couple of questions. A couple of things we didn't hear about tonight. I'd love to get an update on where you're at with rolling out charge for charge. I guess if I remember back to prior calls, the thought was you're going to go through kind of a pilot process maybe in the first half of the year and come into the second half of the year ready to talk about sort of the game plan for that revenue stream. And I guess in that regard, it sort of struck me a little bit that your charging network operations revenue was essentially negligible in the quarter. So maybe start there, and then I have a follow-up.

有幾個問題。今晚我們沒有聽到幾件事。我很想了解一下你們推行收費服務的進度。我想，如果我沒記錯的話，之前的通話中我們的想法是，你可能會在上半年經歷一種試點過程，然後在下半年準備討論該收入來源的計劃。我想從這個方面來說，我有點震驚地發現，本季你們的充電網路營運收入基本上可以忽略不計。所以也許從那裡開始，然後我再進行後續跟進。

Thanks for the question. [Garrett], do you want to cover that?

謝謝你的提問。 [加勒特]，你想報道這件事嗎？

Yes. Great. Great question, Matt. So at a high level, charge on our DC network was deployed in Q2 and towards Q3. And as a result, 80% of our DC network currently has charge for charge. That probably explains why the increased DC is so small.

是的。偉大的。問得好，馬特。因此，從高層次來看，我們的直流網路充電已於第二季和第三季部署。因此，我們 80% 的直流網路目前都實施收費制。這可能解釋了為什麼增加的 DC 如此之小。

In addition on the financial statement line item within charging operations, we do have our LCFS credits that are monetized as well, too. So it does depend upon when those credits are monetized that provides fluctuation on the charge for charge. But we are happy with the success on our charge for charge to the DC network and continue to track the utilization and look forward to presenting metrics as we grow that segment of the business.

此外，在收費營運的財務報表項目中，我們也有貨幣化的 LCFS 信用。因此，這確實取決於這些信用何時貨幣化，從而導致收費波動。但是，我們對直流網路收費的成功感到高興，並將繼續追蹤利用率，並期待在我們發展該業務部門時提供指標。

And then, again, something that wasn't mentioned, what's sort of the update on Europe? We haven't heard much about that. What's the status of the business there? What are you doing headcount-wise? Are you still investing there? Are you pulling back? Just maybe dig in, in a little more detail where you're at in Europe, where your site count installed base, whatever metrics you can kind of talk about and what you're doing strategically right there as we sit here today.

然後，還有一點沒有提到，歐洲的最新情況是怎麼樣的呢？我們對此了解不多。那裡的生意怎麼樣？從員工人數來看，你們在做什麼？你還在那裡投資嗎？你要退縮嗎？也許您可以更詳細地了解您在歐洲的所在地、您的網站數量、安裝基礎、您可以談論的任何指標以及您今天在這裡採取的策略措施。

Matt, I'll take a shot at that. Europe is a very interesting market. And I think what everyone knows that we've deployed a team, and we've kind of started the process there that we're well up the curve on in the U.S. The reception in Europe is very good. Volta is looked at just as attractive as it is here. We have a very good team on the ground. They are busy lining up potential counterparties, which we refer to as site partners and been very successful in generating interest in kind of early-stage indications.

馬特，我會嘗試一下。歐洲是一個非常有趣的市場。我想大家都知道我們已經部署了一支團隊，並且已經開始了在美國取得進展的進程。歐洲的反應也很好。沃特和這裡一樣具有吸引力。我們在實地擁有一支非常優秀的團隊。他們正忙於尋找潛在的交易對手，我們稱之為現場合作夥伴，並且非常成功地激發了人們對早期跡象的興趣。

From an overall strategic perspective, we have not yet initiated a significant build-out in Europe in part because of capital availability and in part because of the strong desire to have the business systems and organizational infrastructure well in place ahead of launching into an aggressive CapEx program. We expect to look as part of our year-end planning. We're evaluating kind of every aspect of it. We like it. It's quite interesting, but we should be able to update you in the future.

從整體策略角度來看，我們尚未在歐洲啟動大規模擴張，部分原因是資金可用性問題，部分原因是我們強烈希望在啟動積極的資本支出計劃之前，先將業務系統和組織基礎設施完善到位。我們希望將其作為年終計劃的一部分。我們正在評估它的各個方面。我們喜歡它。這很有趣，但我們應該能夠在以後向您更新。

And our next question will come from Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的馬克·德萊尼。

The first was on potential capital raising. Could you please clarify if you've done any since the end of the calendar third quarter. Has there been any capital raising has potentially been done quarter-to-date? And maybe talk a little bit around what potential options there might be for the company to raise capital and how much you think you may need to raise.

第一個是關於潛在的融資。您能否澄清一下自日曆第三季末以來您是否做過任何事情。本季迄今是否有可能進行任何融資？也許可以稍微談談公司籌集資金的潛在選擇以及您認為可能需要籌集多少資金。

Mark, thanks for the question. Drew has been coordinating all of the efforts in that entire area. Drew, do you want to take that?

馬克，謝謝你的提問。德魯一直在協調整個地區的所有工作。德魯，你想接受這個嗎？

Sure. Thanks, Mark. As you know, and as I think everyone knows, it's the capital markets and the markets' macroeconomic conditions have been challenging over the last couple of months. We continue to have active discussions with a number of parties about providing Volta with the appropriate both quantum and structure of financing to help drive our business forward and continue to fund growth. We will be providing you with an update as soon as we know something. I think as we become fine to saying you'll be the second person to know we will be the first, but we continue to be encouraged by the conversations that we're having and look forward to talking about that more shortly.

當然。謝謝，馬克。如你所知，我想大家都知道，過去幾個月來，資本市場和市場的宏觀經濟狀況一直充滿挑戰。我們繼續與多方積極討論為 Volta 提供適當的融資數量和結構，以幫助推動我們的業務發展並繼續為成長提供資金。一旦我們了解情況，我們將立即向您提供更新資訊。我認為，當我們能夠說您將是第二個知道的人時，我們將是第一個，但我們繼續受到我們正在進行的對話的鼓舞，並期待很快談論這個問題。

Okay. Understood. And then you outlined on the call today a number of cost reduction steps the company has taken. Maybe you could clarify what that means in terms of your current cash usage rate either per month or per quarter. Where does it currently stand?

好的。明白了。然後您在今天的電話會議上概述了公司採取的一系列降低成本的措施。也許您可以澄清一下，就您目前每月或每季的現金使用率而言，這意味著什麼。目前情況如何？

Mark, we're not giving the granularity to cash usage on a monthly basis. What I would tell you is we're treating it as a precious commodity. We are managing the business on both a cash basis and a CapEx basis very carefully. We're in an interesting position because there are many different stakeholders who very much want to see us succeed. And there are people in our organization, in our site partner network kind of across the business that are collaborating with us to think about how we can expand our network in a more capital-friendly way, less capital-intensive way. I think that what I would tell you is the process is still underway. It's very much linked to our capital raising process. And as Drew has said, well, we'll update the market as soon as all of that's completed.

馬克，我們沒有提供每月現金使用情況的詳細數據。我想告訴你的是，我們將其視為珍貴的商品。我們非常謹慎地以現金和資本支出的方式管理業務。我們處於一個有趣的位置，因為有許多不同的利害關係人非常希望看到我們成功。我們組織內、站點合作夥伴網絡中以及整個業務範圍內的人員正在與我們合作，思考如何以更資本友好、資本密集程度更低的方式擴展我們的網絡。我想告訴你的是，這個過程仍在進行中。這與我們的融資過程密切相關。正如德魯所說，一旦所有工作完成，我們就會向市場更新資訊。

One last one for me, if I could, please. Your PredictEV was mentioned today and also I think on your last earnings call as one of the new focal areas and potential revenue-generating opportunity. Any more examples you can give us on the success you're having with that and what it may mean for the company going forward?

如果可以的話，請再說最後一個。今天我們提到了您的 PredictEV，而且我認為在您上次的收益電話會議上，它也被認為是新的重點領域和潛在的創收機會之一。您能否再舉幾個例子來說明您在這方面的成功以及這對公司未來發展意味著什麼？

Yes, sure. PredictEV is a very interesting part of the business. It's the precursor to a network build-out, particularly when other people are allocating capital. And the site partner is trying to get us to put charges in front of their store, it's a very one-to-one relationship. If a government agency is trying to figure out how to allocate $7.5 billion across 70 different kind of big cities, 50 states, a lot of different jurisdictions, it's a much more difficult task. We have been extremely active on that front, and we have been leading those conversations with the suggestion and the tool to go with it to properly plan for the capital allocation and the build-out using something more than a marketing material of a market participant.

是的，當然。 PredictEV 是業務中非常有趣的一部分。這是網路建設的先兆，特別是當其他人正在分配資本時。網站合作夥伴正試圖讓我們在他們的商店前收取費用，這是一對一的關係。如果一個政府機構試圖弄清楚如何在 70 個不同類型的大城市、50 個州和許多不同的司法管轄區分配 75 億美元，那麼這是一項更困難的任務。我們在這方面一直非常活躍，我們一直在引導這些對話，提出建議並採用相應的工具來妥善規劃資本配置和建設，而不僅僅是使用市場參與者的行銷材料。

Our PredictEV software is agnostic, whether it's our equipment that goes in the ground or someone else's. It's using AI and machine learning, informs a policymaker or a city leader where the charger should go. And then what's really tremendously to our benefit is that once those sites have been identified, we can lease squares our map on top of it and show a policymaker exactly where we already have sites in our MSA contracted backlog.

我們的 PredictEV 軟體具有不可知性，無論埋入地下的是我們的設備還是其他人的設備。它使用人工智慧和機器學習，告知決策者或城市領導充電器應該放在哪裡。對我們真正有巨大好處的是，一旦確定了這些地點，我們就可以在上面租用我們的地圖，並向決策者準確顯示我們在 MSA 合約積壓中已經擁有的地點。

That's a key differentiating factor of us versus all the other chargers who are competing for this money because the people who are kind of organizing their business to go after the money haven't built the backlog of sites that Volta has. It's one of the things Volta did very right, very early is instead of going after parking lot by parking lot, the business was organized around going after whole portfolios of properties through national property owners and REITs and contracting those over long-term contracts under MSAs.

這是我們與其他爭奪資金的充電樁公司之間的關鍵區別因素，因為那些組織業務以追逐資金的人還沒有像 Volta 那樣建立大量充電樁。這是 Volta 早期做得非常正確的事情之一，它不是逐一追逐停車場，而是圍繞著透過國家業主和房地產投資信託基金追逐整個地產組合，並透過 MSA 下的長期合約與之簽約。

So when we sit down with the policymaker, we have the tool to tell where it should go and then we have the inventory of sites where they can go, and their capital can enable it. And I guess the other piece that you didn't ask on PredictEV is the charger itself has an economic benefit far beyond just charging on an EV car, which is the other part of the Volta story, which is why it's so compelling.

因此，當我們與決策者坐下來開會時，我們有工具來告訴它應該去哪裡，然後我們有他們可以去的地點清單，他們的資本可以實現它。我想您在 PredictEV 上沒有問到的另一個問題是，充電器本身的經濟效益遠遠超出了為電動車充電的範疇，這是 Volta 故事的另一部分，也是它如此引人注目的原因。

Yes. I mean I think just, Mark, the only thing I would add to that is that since and I were forget a government event or been spoke on channel and then Canada, National Governance Association event around energy transition and EV infrastructure in Greenville, South Carolina. And PredictEV was one of the sort of pillars of the conversation that we had, and the reception that we got to the opportunity to work with us using PredictEV as the sort of the entry point to help cities or municipalities understand infrastructure deployment, I think, resonated very strongly. And Hoboken again remains an example of that.

是的。我的意思是，馬克，我想補充的唯一一點是，自從我忘記了政府活動或在頻道上發表過演講，然後是加拿大國家治理協會在南卡羅來納州格林維爾舉行的有關能源轉型和電動汽車基礎設施的活動。 PredictEV 是我們討論的支柱之一，我認為，我們有機會與我們合作，使用 PredictEV 作為切入點，幫助城市或市政當局了解基礎設施部署，這引起了強烈的共鳴。霍博肯再次成為這方面的例子。

Thanks, Mark. You can tell how much we like this part of the business because we can't stop talking about it. But the other part about productivity that's interesting is that the money that's coming from the federal government to the states has a process associated with it and plans and approval of plans and the allocation of capital by market participants, the reimbursement of capital, all of that's a ways off.

謝謝，馬克。你可以知道我們有多喜歡這部分業務，因為我們一直在談論它。但關於生產力的另一個有趣的部分是，聯邦政府向各州提供的資金有一個相關的流程，計劃和計劃的批准以及市場參與者的資本分配、資本的償還，所有這些都還有很長的路要走。

One of the interesting parts of PredictEV is that it is eligible for the planning money, and the planning money can be allocated by the states and by the local governments on an expedited basis. So we stand in a position where it's a focus of a lot of our conversations right now, where those jurisdictions can hire us to use PredictEV today on a fee-for-service basis and to help them make the plan to allocate the capital that months and quarters off. So it's an early tool as well as a very powerful tool.

PredictEV 的一個有趣之處在於它有資格獲得規劃資金，並且規劃資金可以由各州和地方政府以快速方式分配。因此，我們現在處於這樣一個位置，這是我們目前許多對話的焦點，這些司法管轄區可以僱用我們以收費服務的方式使用 PredictEV，並幫助他們制定計劃來分配未來幾個月和幾個季度的資本。所以它既是一個早期的工具，也是一個非常強大的工具。

And our next question will come from Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cantor Fitzgerald 的 Andres Sheppard。

Congrats on another quarter. I wanted to maybe follow up on Mark's question in regards to the capital raising needs, right? So in the past, you had mentioned the need to raise that $250 million to $300 million of non-dilutive capital. Now I know you did the 150 million of shares via the ATM previously. But at these levels, it might not be the best idea to issue additional shares. And so as we stand now with about $16 million in cash as of the end of the quarter, is the expectation to raise capital in Q4 and in that range and ideally non-dilutive?

恭喜您又度過了一個季度。我想跟進馬克關於融資需求的問題，對嗎？所以過去您曾提到需要籌集 2.5 億至 3 億美元的非稀釋性資本。現在我知道你之前透過 ATM 提取了 1.5 億股股票。但在目前的水平上，發行額外股份可能不是最好的主意。那麼，截至本季末，我們目前擁有約 1,600 萬美元的現金，是否預計在第四季度籌集資金並處於該範圍內，並且理想情況下不會稀釋？

Thanks, Andres. I appreciate the question. So I think just a quick comment on the ATM program, I think it's not just Volta. I think you've seen a number of companies in our industry and in general industries, particularly leaseback companies, announced ATM programs over the last 4 to 6 months. It's good housekeeping. It's something that's there. It's an insurance policy of source on an as-needed basis. So we view the ATM program really as sort of a good housekeeping procedure more than, I think where you were headed with, as a solution or a full solution to the capital needs going forward.

謝謝，安德烈斯。我很感謝你提出這個問題。所以我認為只需對 ATM 計劃做一個簡短的評論，我認為它不僅僅是 Volta。我想你已經看到我們行業和一般行業的許多公司，特別是回租公司，在過去 4 到 6 個月內宣布了 ATM 計劃。這是很好的家事管理。它是存在的東西。這是按需提供的保險單。因此，我們認為 ATM 計劃實際上是一種很好的內部管理程序，而不是像您所說的那樣，作為未來資本需求的解決方案或完整解決方案。

With regard to capital required to continue to fund our business and grow our business, look, we are in the market talking to a number of different investors. As you can probably imagine, every investor has his or her own opinion about structure and the nature of dilution or lack thereof in any capital structure. We are listening and talking actively to all interested parties. We are open to all structures that make sense.

關於繼續資助我們的業務和發展我們的業務所需的資金，我們正在市場上與許多不同的投資者進行洽談。您可能可以想像，每個投資者對結構以及任何資本結構中的稀釋或缺乏稀釋的性質都有自己的看法。我們正在積極傾聽並與所有相關方進行交流。我們對所有合理的結構都持開放態度。

The primary goal of Volta is to raise the money necessary to continue to deploy our chargers and continue to build out our program that Vince and Brandt alluded to into their -- in their remarks. So we hope that it's -- again, we hope that it's something in the near term that we come back to you guys and tell you more about.

Volta 的主要目標是籌集必要的資金，以繼續部署我們的充電器並繼續建立 Vince 和 Brandt 在演講中提到的計劃。所以我們希望——再說一次，我們希望這是我們近期內會做的事情，然後我們會回來告訴你們更多相關資訊。

Okay. Fair enough. And maybe as a quick follow-up. Just help me understand a little bit better. So on Slide 6, you have your deployment pipeline and also your technical evaluation. I guess just -- sorry if this is silly. But just help me understand in terms of the pipeline, what time period is that encompassing? In other words, when do you foresee making -- deploying the charges that are in the pipeline and converting them into actually installed?

好的。很公平。或許可以作為快速的後續行動。只是幫助我更好地理解一點。因此，在投影片 6 上，您有部署管道和技術評估。我想只是——如果這很愚蠢，我很抱歉。但請幫我理解，從管道的角度來看，它涵蓋了哪個時段？換句話說，您預計何時部署管道中的收費並將其轉換為實際安裝？

Great question, and maybe I'll answer your question with a question, Andres. Do you know anyone at utilities who can get them to move faster?

很好的問題，也許我會用一個問題來回答你的問題，安德烈斯。您是否認識公用事業部門的任何人，他們可以加快他們的行動速度？

We can take that conversation off-line, but I'll see what I can do.

我們可以將這次談話轉移到線下，但我會看看我能做些什麼。

We greatly appreciate the help on that side. Look, it's a great question, just to maybe level set from a definitional perspective because we do talk about 3 turns on Slide 6. We talk about our installed base, which is obviously the network of chargers that we have in the ground that are operational. We talk about the deployment pipeline. Those are the number of installs that are in what we call the construction phase or the development phase.

我們非常感謝那邊的幫助。看，這是一個很好的問題，可能只是從定義的角度進行水平設置，因為我們在幻燈片 6 上確實討論了 3 個轉彎。我們討論了我們的安裝基礎，這顯然是我們在地面上運行的充電器網路。我們討論部署管道。這些是我們所說的建設階段或開發階段的安裝數量。

So we've chosen the location, the site order agreements are signed. We're in the -- somewhere between permitting, engineering and commissioning of those stations. And then the technical evaluation installed, those are a little bit higher up in the pipeline. They are all signed under or pursuant to an MSA agreement, but we are in various stages of what we call qualification visits and early construction drawings to identify where -- what the power requirements are, what the power availability is either at the property because, as you know, with our Level 2 chargers we typically pull from house power and with DC fast chargers, we have to have a direct connection to the grid, so evaluating the power. We're also looking at the economics of each of those sites as well to make sure that they have the appropriate payback periods and the economic benefits that we seek. And once we get through that technical evaluation pipeline, those stations will then move into or a good portion of those stations will move into the deployment pipeline.

所以我們已經選擇了地點，並簽署了現場訂購協議。我們正處於這些站點的許可、工程和調試階段。然後安裝技術評估，這些在管道中處於較高位置。它們都是根據 MSA 協議簽署的，但我們正處於所謂的資格訪問和早期施工圖的不同階段，以確定電力需求是什麼，以及該物業的電力供應情況，因為如您所知，我們的 2 級充電器通常使用家庭電源，而使用直流快速充電器時，我們必須直接連接到電網，從而評估電力。我們也在研究每個站點的經濟狀況，以確保它們具有適當的回報期和我們所尋求的經濟效益。一旦我們通過技術評估流程，這些站點就會進入部署流程，或者其中很大一部分站點會進入部署流程。

From a timeline perspective, it can really vary dramatically on an (inaudible) basis. It depends on permitting. It depends on weather. There are a number of factors that can influence it, but we can see the full pipeline extend anywhere between 6 and 12 months depending on a number of those factors. And again, just to reiterate, part of the reason we're out raising capital is the predictable availability of capital will also help accelerate or move some of those stations through both the technical evaluation and the deployment pipeline as well.

從時間軸的角度來看，它確實可以在（聽不清楚）的基礎上發生巨大變化。這取決於是否允許。這取決於天氣。有許多因素可以影響它，但我們可以看到整個管道延長的時間在 6 到 12 個月之間，具體取決於其中的一些因素。再次重申，我們籌集資金的部分原因是可預測的資金可用性也將有助於加速或推動其中一些站點通過技術評估和部署管道。

And our next question will come from Pavel Molchanov from Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Pavel Molchanov。

Yet another guy who asks about the balance sheet, but with the $60 million of cash on the balance sheet, which is roughly half quarter of SG&A, is there a backup plan to provide any kind of bridge financing or even just a small amount of cash to get an extra several months of corporate cost funding if your primary financing plans end up being delayed into next year?

又有人詢問資產負債表，但資產負債表上有 6,000 萬美元的現金，大約佔銷售、一般和行政費用的四分之一，如果您的主要融資計劃最終被推遲到明年，是否有備用計劃可以提供任何形式的過橋融資，或者哪怕只是少量現金，以獲得額外幾個月的公司成本融資？

Well, Pavel, first of all, it wouldn't be a conversation with that you unless you mentioned the balance sheet. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. But no, of course, look, we are talking to all Canadian side. We are talking to many different capital providers, many different sources of potential capital. And as I mentioned a moment ago in my remarks, we are looking at all possible structures. We are not necessarily thinking about this as a one-and-done type of situation. So your remarks are fair.

好吧，帕維爾，首先，除非你提到資產負債表，否則這不會是一次與你的談話。非常感謝。我很感激。但不，當然，看，我們正在與加拿大方面進行對話。我們正在與許多不同的資本提供者、許多不同的潛在資本來源進行洽談。正如我剛才在演講中提到的，我們正在研究所有可能的結構。我們不一定認為這是一次性的事情。所以你的評論是公正的。

Okay. How much runway in your kind of internal planning do you have based on the cash balance as of September 30?

好的。根據截至 9 月 30 日的現金餘額，您的內部規劃還有多少餘地？

At this point, Pavel, that's not something we're going to comment on. I think our -- we are looking at this business over the long term. We are putting both in the best position possible to continue to execute against its plan, service the relationships that we've got pursuant to the MSA partners that we have developed, those relationships that we are developing. Our plan is to be a leading provider of EV charging infrastructure for a long time. So -- and we continue to reduce costs and working on those efforts as well. So this is an ongoing effort as well. So we believe that this is -- we're here for the long term.

帕維爾，目前我們不會對此發表評論。我認為我們正在從長遠角度考慮這項業務。我們正在將兩者置於最佳位置，以繼續執行其計劃，維護我們與已經建立的 MSA 合作夥伴之間的關係以及我們正在發展的關係。我們的計劃是長期成為電動車充電基礎設施的領先提供者。所以——我們將繼續降低成本並努力實現這些目標。所以這也是一項持續的努力。所以我們相信——我們會長期在這裡。

Okay. Looking at your -- kind of an accounting question. Looking at your current liabilities, there was -- I see a term loan payable and then some just standard working capital items. Is any of that due before, let's say, December 31?

好的。看看你的——一種會計問題。查看您的當前負債，我看到有一筆應付定期貸款，然後是一些標準營運資金項目。其中有任何一項是在 12 月 31 日之前到期的嗎？

Other than in the ordinary course, no.

除了正常情況外，沒有。

The term loan is a public document.

定期貸款是一份公開文件。

Yes.

是的。

Okay. So that's 2023 story?

好的。這就是 2023 年的故事嗎？

Correct. More about that as we continue to explore capital options. But yes, we're fine for now.

正確的。隨著我們繼續探索資本選擇，我們將對此有更多了解。但是是的，我們現在很好。

Understood. And then just a quick question on the demand side of the equation. You mentioned the macro ad slowdown. That's -- point is very well taken. Are there certain kinds of advertisers that are more resilient, consumer staples? Anything along those lines that are not affected by, for example, the supply conditions in the automotive value chain?

明白了。然後就等式的需求方提出一個簡單的問題。您提到了宏觀廣告放緩。這一點非常正確。是否存在某些類型的廣告商更具彈性，是消費必需品？有哪些事情不受汽車價值鏈供應條件等因素的影響？

It's Brandt. I'll jump in on that. Thanks for the question. So we're very focused on continuing to grow revenue, particularly in our media business. We're growing on an absolute basis. You saw the quarter. And while there are macroeconomic kind of areas that we're watching in the fourth quarter, I mean this is peak season for many advertisers who are focused on their holiday campaigns. And so I think we're all familiar with some of the headwinds in the automotive sector, for example.

是布蘭特。我會參與其中。謝謝你的提問。因此，我們非常注重繼續增加收入，特別是媒體業務的收入。我們的絕對基礎是成長的。你看到了四分之一。雖然我們在第四季度關注的是宏觀經濟領域，但我的意思是，對於許多專注於假日活動的廣告商來說，這是旺季。因此，我認為我們都熟悉汽車產業面臨的一些不利因素。

But as you look into retail and as you look at brands around the holiday season, consumer packaged goods brands, for example, are very resilient. And I was just talking with a CMO very recently, and he was telling me how during these times of uncertainty, the focus goes on the prioritization of what marketers know works and what they know that they can also measure.

但當你觀察零售業和節慶期間的品牌時，你會發現，例如消費包裝商品品牌，它們的彈性非常大。我最近剛與一位首席行銷長交談過，他告訴我，在這些不確定的時期，行銷人員的重點是優先考慮他們知道有效的方法以及他們知道可以衡量的方法。

And I'm incredibly proud of what the Volta Media team has built over the past year, which is a digital advertising platform where advertisers can reach consumers in a real world, minutes before they make a purchase decision about product A or product B in our ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of that advertising back to the marketer. That combination of ingredients is what we feel continues to set up Volta better than most, particularly during times when marketers may be questioning their immediate priorities.

我為 Volta Media 團隊在過去一年建立的成果感到無比自豪，這是一個數位廣告平台，廣告主可以在現實世界中接觸到消費者，在消費者對產品 A 或產品 B 做出購買決定之前的幾分鐘內，我們能夠向行銷人員展示廣告的有效性。我們認為，這些因素的組合使得 Volta 比大多數產品表現更好，特別是在行銷人員可能質疑其當務之急的時候。

And I'd also point to some of the research that I referenced briefly on the call, if you look at the areas right now of high growth in advertising, digital out-of-home and retail media are both forecasted to be high-growth areas in advertising. And those are 2 areas where Volta plays exceptionally well. So that's how we're thinking about the business, particularly heading into the holiday season.

我還要指出我在電話會議上簡要提到的一些研究，如果你看看目前廣告業高成長的領域，數位戶外和零售媒體都被預測為廣告業的高成長領域。這兩個領域正是 Volta 表現出色的地方。這就是我們對業務的看法，特別是在進入假期的時候。

And our next question will come from Craig Shere with Tuohy Brothers.

我們的下一個問題來自 Tuohy Brothers 的 Craig Shere。

I want to make sure I understand the answer to Andres' question. The $96 million of CWIP doesn't sound like it's physical capital in the ground, but that it can include capitalized costs for permitting, engineering and other before physical equipment deployment. And so first, I want to make sure I have that right. And to the degree that's right, that would imply that you're not necessarily on the cusp of finishing off a sizable chunk of stalls or just de minimis incremental capital. Is that fair?

我想確保我理解安德烈斯問題的答案。 9,600 萬美元的 CWIP 聽起來不像是地下的實體資本，但它可以包括許可、工程和其他實體設備部署之前的資本化成本。因此首先，我想確保我擁有這個權利。從正確的程度上來說，這意味著你不一定即將完成大量攤位或只是最低限度的增量資本。這樣公平嗎？

Craig, I'm sorry, you broke up a little bit. Can you repeat the beginning part of your question again? It was hard to hear. I'm sorry.

克雷格，我很抱歉，你們有點分手了。您能再重複問題的開頭部分嗎？這聽起來很難受。對不起。

No problem. So on your slide, the $96 million of CWIP, it sounds from the discussion like that's not necessarily partially installed physical equipment on the ground but could be capitalized permitting, engineering and other costs such that -- and I'm trying to get a sense of how close are you in terms of just a little bit additional capital to having a slew of additional revenue-generating stalls. And if you're capitalizing a lot of costs that aren't physical equipment, then maybe it would be a little more difficult to get your next, whatever, 500 stalls.

沒問題。因此，在您的投影片上，9,600 萬美元的 CWIP，從討論中聽起來，這不一定是在地面上部分安裝的實體設備，而是可以資本化的許可、工程和其他成本——我想了解一下，就一點點額外的資本而言，您離擁有大量額外的創收攤位還有多遠。如果你將許多非實體設備成本資本化，那麼獲得下一個 500 個攤位可能會更加困難。

Yes. This is [Garrett Little] calling -- speaking. Sorry. It's a great question. So within the construction progress balance, you are correct. Those are actual current available station inventory, which we're looking to monetize and/or install in several different separate ways currently.

是的。我是 [Garrett Little]。對不起。這是一個很好的問題。因此，在施工進度平衡範圍內，你是正確的。這些是目前實際可用的站點庫存，我們目前正在尋求透過幾種不同的方式將其貨幣化和/或安裝。

But your question is right. We do look at the value on our balance sheet as well as what the installation capitals required to install and satisfy our development pipeline. Each site is really unique in terms of how installation occurs. So depending upon what that deployment pipeline, looks like it can vary, but we're currently working with -- internally to identify the most economically advantaged sites to deploy and to generate revenues upon those stations available.

但你的問題是正確的。我們確實會查看資產負債表上的價值以及安裝和滿足我們的開發管道所需的安裝資本。就安裝方式而言，每個網站都是獨一無二的。因此，根據部署管道的不同，它看起來可能會有所不同，但我們目前正在內部合作，以確定最具經濟優勢的部署站點，並利用這些可用的站點創造收入。

Okay. And I guess, just to sum it up, in that 96 million CWIP, there's intangible capitalized costs that are physical equipment on the ground.

好的。我想，總而言之，在 9,600 萬 CWIP 中，有無形資本化成本，也就是地面上的實體設備。

It's -- and currently right now, that's all tangible items. It's the charge stations and digital media screens, the line above on that slide that our stations in the ground.

目前，這些都是有形物品。它是充電站和數位媒體螢幕，幻燈片上方的線表示我們的站點位於地面上。

So you have $96 million of physical equipment that isn't currently as yet in operation and revenue-producing. So you have a lot of equipment that's on the cusp of potentially getting over the hump and being revenue-producing.

因此，您擁有價值 9,600 萬美元的實體設備，但目前尚未投入運作並產生收入。因此，您擁有的許多設備都有望克服困難並產生收入。

Yes. And that will include some engineering costs fringes, as you'd expect on the install side, but costs that are currently being deployed to install a station to be able to monetize the screens of charging.

是的。這將包括一些工程成本附加費用，正如您在安裝方面所預料的那樣，但這些成本目前正在用於安裝充電站，以便能夠將充電螢幕貨幣化。

All right. And I just want to get a better sense that there was a really big drawdown of cash in the quarter, and I'm trying to get a sense if there were some onetime events in that, like severance costs to cut your ongoing overhead or something, but it seemed like there was a very large drawdown from the second quarter cash balance to the third quarter.

好的。我只是想更好地了解本季度現金是否真的大幅減少，並且我試圖了解其中是否存在一些一次性事件，例如遣散費以削減持續的管理費用或其他什麼，但似乎從第二季度到第三季度，現金餘額出現了非常大的減少。

Yes. Great question. I'll push back on to the construction progress slide. We had several inventory payments required for suppliers that hit in the quarter, and that's what's really driving up the balance from the $67 million to $95 million.

是的。好問題。我將回顧施工進度投影片。本季我們需要向供應商支付幾筆庫存款項，這才是導致餘額從 6,700 萬美元增加到 9,500 萬美元的真正原因。

Got you. So that probably feeds into my first question, all those inventory payments kind of fill in your CWIP position. So you do have some assets on the ground that aren't producing yet and with a little help, you can kind of get that over the home.

明白了。所以這可能與我的第一個問題有關，所有這些庫存付款都會填補您的 CWIP 位置。因此，您確實有一些尚未生產的地面資產，只需一點幫助，您就可以將其轉移到家中。

That's correct, yes.

是的，沒錯。

And we'll take a follow-up question from Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald.

我們將回答 Cantor Fitzgerald 的 Andres Sheppard 提出的後續問題。

I wanted to -- maybe I don't think this was asked, but I just wanted to get an opportunity to see how the partnership with Walgreens was progressing. I assume some of the stalls that you have in the pipeline for next quarter and for 2023, I presume some of those will be a result of that partnership with Walgreens. I guess what I'm really trying to get at is as you look forward to the installation of new chargers, are you going to be almost exclusively prioritizing the DC fast chargers as opposed to the level? Or is it still going to be some sort of mix?

我想——也許我不認為有人問過這個問題，但我只是想有機會看看與沃爾格林的合作進展如何。我認為你們計劃在下個季度和 2023 年開設的一些攤位，其中一些將是與 Walgreens 合作的結果。我想我真正想問的是，當您期待安裝新的充電器時，您是否會幾乎只優先考慮直流快速充電器而不是水平充電器？或者它仍將是某種混合形式？

Yes, it's Brandt. Thanks for the question. The short answer to your question is, yes, we're continuing to focus on our partnership with Walgreens. We believe that, that will pick up pace as we enter into 2023. I think it's no secret that anyone who follows our sector knows some of the challenges that we're all experiencing around DC fast charge and deployment, given some of the supply chain strengths with transformers and given some of the backlogs that utilities have. That's certainly playing a role into that partnership given the fact that it is so heavily focused on DC fast. I know the team is working very hard on mitigating those areas. However, in some cases, there's only so much that we could do from our side, so to speak. So I'll leave it there for now.

是的，他是布蘭特。謝謝你的提問。對你的問題的簡短回答是，是的，我們將繼續專注於與 Walgreens 的合作。我們相信，隨著進入 2023 年，這一進程將會加快。我認為，任何關注我們行業的人都知道，考慮到變壓器的一些供應鏈優勢以及公用事業的一些積壓訂單，我們在直流快速充電和部署方面面臨一些挑戰。鑑於該公司如此重視 DC fast，這無疑對該合作關係產生了一定的影響。我知道團隊正在努力緩解這些問題。然而，在某些情況下，我們能做的其實非常有限。所以我現在就把它留在那裡。

And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to Mr. Lipsher for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想請利普舍爾先生作最後發言。

Thank you very much. And again, thank you to everyone who joined the call today for listening in. As you can hear, we continue to be incredibly excited and enthusiastic about Volta and appreciate everyone's support and look forward to talking to you all soon. Thank you very much.

非常感謝。再次感謝今天參加電話會議的所有人。正如您所聽到的，我們繼續對 Volta 感到無比興奮和熱情，感謝大家的支持，並期待很快與大家交談。非常感謝。

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for attending.

今天的電話會議到此結束。謝謝您的出席。