Head of clean tech innovator Beam Global tells Oninvest about plans and Trump effect

Beam Global CEO Desmond Wheatley brings more than three decades of executive experience to the table, having built and led companies ranging from startups to publicly traded firms generating $70 million in annual revenue, according to his LinkedIn profile. “For a long time, I worked for companies that were polluting the environment. I spent a lot of time in the Middle East, working for people whose values I don't support now,” he said in an interview with Oninvest.

Wheatley eventually pivoted to the clean energy space. He has led Beam for the past 15 years and says he remains far more energized and engaged than he ever felt in his earlier corporate roles.

The company was founded in 2006 by Robert Noble, an architect with degrees from Berkeley and Harvard. It was he who invented the concept of "solar trees" with a central pillar supporting a platform topped with solar modules.

Originally founded as Envision Solar International, the company initially focused on architectural solar structures for parking lots, according to Wheatley. He took over in 2011 and has since broadened the company’s focus. Today, Beam Global develops a range of sustainable technologies, most of them being solar-powered. “We also manufacture batteries, power electronics, and products for smart cities, as well as for energy and telecommunications infrastructure,” Wheatley told Oninvest.

Beam’s flagship product is the EV ARC, a solar-powered, off-grid charging station with integrated battery storage. Designed for rapid deployment, the EV ARC requires no permitting, trenching, or connection to the electrical grid, features that set it apart from peers.

All of Beam’s core products were invented by Wheatley, whose name appears on the company’s patents. “I am a person who is good at generating ideas and smart enough to find the people who can bring them to life. We have incredibly talented engineers in our company from the aviation and energy sectors. I also handle the financial side of the company, which is what allows us to fund our inventions and make them a reality,” he said.

Envision Solar went public in 2019, listing on the Nasdaq at $6 per share.

In September 2020, it rebranded as Beam Global. “The name ‘Envision Solar’ was confusing for potential customers and Wall Street alike. People thought we were just a solar panel installation company – a business with low margins and a ton of competition,” Wheatley said. The word “beam" carries multiple meanings: a ray of sunshine, a stream of energy, or even a structural component.

Wheatley has a clear vision for the future of EV infrastructure, and he believes it should look a lot like Wi-Fi.

“Ten years ago, Wi-Fi was a rarity and a pain to get connected to,” the Beam CEO told Oninvest. “Now, it’s just everywhere. We don’t even have to think about how to get online; our smartphones often do it automatically.”

He points to another feature of wireless internet: widespread access at no cost. “Is that Wi-Fi super-fast, like 1 Gbps? No. If some company came along today offering a 1 Gbps Wi-Fi connection for just $10-15, people would laugh at it,” Wheatley said.

This is a good model, he argues, for how EV charging should work in the future. Beam’s mission is to deploy autonomous, off-grid chargers, ensuring drivers can recharge without hassle.

In March, China’s BYD unveiled a next-generation battery system capable of charging EVs in just five minutes.

BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu said the optimal evolution for the EV market is to make charging as fast as refueling a gasoline car.

But while Wheatley praised the innovation, he remains skeptical that ultra-fast chargers alone will reshape the market. “All of us – from technology providers and inventors to market regulators – need to be thinking about what the driver needs in the future, not just what the technology is capable of,” he said.

Wheatley believes that charging an EV should eventually resemble the way people charge their smartphones. A study by the nonprofit Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that in 2022, the average U.S. driver logged just 30.1 miles (just over 48 kilometers) per day. That, he says, is clear evidence that ultra-fast charging is unnecessary for most users.

“We charge our phones whenever we need to, while we’re doing other things. A huge advantage of an EV is that you don’t have to make a special trip just to wait, even if it’s only for 5 minutes like at a gas station. You can plug in while you’re walking into your office, the supermarket, or the park,” Wheatley explained.

Trump’s return to the White House has sent shockwaves through the EV industry. He has never hidden his disdain for EVs, and his administration wasted little time translating rhetoric into policy. Within days of taking office, Trump moved to freeze federal funding for a $5 billion program aimed at building EV charging infrastructure.

“All existing charging stations that are deemed not to be mission-critical should be disconnected from the network and turned off,” stated a March 3 order on EV supply equipment, signed by Michael Peters, the newly appointed commissioner of the Public Buildings Service under the General Services Administration (GSA).

The GSA is the federal agency responsible for promoting green procurement. After Trump took office, the agency began to shrink itself: It carried out mass departmental cuts and scaled back measures aimed at combating climate change.

The shift dealt a blow to companies like Beam Global. Wheatley believes the moves will just set the U.S. back four years from the Chinese, without yielding any benefits.

Historically, the bulk of Beam Global’s revenue has come from government contracts. In 2024, they accounted for 62% of total revenue, down from 80% in 2023. The company’s largest customer is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. According to Beam, demand from government clients began declining in the second half of last year amid growing political uncertainty.

Wheatley notes that the Trump administration decided not only to halt purchases of EVs and charging stations, but also to disconnect chargers that had already been installed. “GSA told us this would cost the taxpayer about a billion dollars, this move. It’s clearly not economically motivated,” he said. The government shut down stations it had already paid to deploy.

Beam is now betting on diversification, a strategy it began pursuing 18 months ago. At the end of 2023, the company acquired Serbia's Amiga, a producer of street lights, communications, and energy infrastructure, and one year later followed up with a deal for Telcom, a power electronics maker, also from Serbia. Both are now part of Beam Europe, the company’s newly established European division. The expansion aligns with EU plans, which entail only zero-emission vehicles being produced in the bloc starting in 2035.

In parallel, Beam has broadened its product portfolio beyond EV charging. New offerings include BeamBike chargers for electric bicycles, UAV ARC units for drones, and BeamWell, a solar-powered disaster response system that provides water desalination and communications access.

Despite efforts to hedge against political instability in the U.S., Beam Global’s financial performance has deteriorated sharply. According to its annual report, revenue in 2024 declined nearly 27% year over year to $49.3 million. Of that, $37.5 million came from the U.S. market. Serbia, the company’s second-largest geography, generated approximately $7.0 million. The net loss for the year totaled $11.3 million, narrowing nearly 30% from 2023.

“While we expected revenue to be weak, the reality was much worse than our initial forecasts,” Freedom Broker wrote in a note published April 16. It had forecast $7.9 million in revenue for the 2025 first quarter, a 45% drop versus the same period in 2024. The actual result: $6.3 million, down nearly 57% year over year. The company attributed this to "uncertainty in the U.S. government’s zero emission vehicle strategy related to the presidential election," according to the press release. Beam Global has not issued full-year guidance for 2025, but Freedom Broker thinks the top line will fall to $37.5 million, a 24% decline versus 2024.

Beam Global acknowledges that reduced demand from U.S. government agencies continues to weigh on performance but expects sales in Europe to drive a recovery in the second half of the year. In early May, the company reported a rise in orders for its green charging stations. Despite softer demand from federal agencies, Beam recorded a 23% quarter-over-quarter increase in EV ARC orders during the first quarter, according to a company statement.

The company also sees its European expansion as a buffer against the impact of tariffs introduced by the Trump administration earlier this year. In the first quarter, 25% of Beam’s revenue came from international customers, up from 11% a year earlier.

According to the company’s strategy, its Serbian facility will support sales growth across the EU, while production for the U.S. market remains based in Chicago. Wheatley noted that Beam sources components globally but strives to manufacture U.S. products using American-made parts, in line with the Build America, Buy America Act, which mandates the use of domestic materials in federally funded infrastructure projects.

Beam is also expanding into the Middle East. In late June, the company announced a JV in the UAE with investment firm Platinum Group LLC. The new entity, Beam Middle East, will be responsible for manufacturing and selling Beam’s products in the region.

Since the start of the year, Beam’s stock has fallen more than 50%, trading at $1.60 per share currently. Wheatley attributes the decline to a volatile political and economic backdrop, as well as broader market weakness. “I follow 30 to 40 stocks that are involved in our industry. Some of them are terrible companies with poor products, poor management teams, and a lack of discipline. Some of them are excellent companies with good products, good management teams, and a great deal of discipline. All of their stock charts look the same,” he told Oninvest.

The AI translation of this story was reviewed by a human editor.