But going out and saying like, “Here we are, a 300-person entity, in an environment where people say, can America innovate and can American manufacture?” And you know what I’d say, I’d say, “Yeah, we can.” Because 300 people are doing it.
Christopher Souther: Got it. And maybe just kind of shifting towards the focus on American made and all that, everything in your kind of commercial activity side, you’ve grown, except for the order backlog, and you called out fact — people see in the factory and the like. But can you give us a sense — do you guys get a sense that the current — people in the current pipeline are waiting for the DOE loan to make order commitments before kind of moving forward? Like, what are customers saying as far as kind of the DOE loan process?
Nathan Kroeker: Absolutely, Chris. I mean, we’ve had a number of conversations anecdotally where they’re saying exactly that, right? We want to — we like the technology. We’ve seen it. We’ve done a bunch of research but we just want to make sure that you guys are well capitalized and you’re going to be here to deliver the product and also be here to deliver on the long-term service agreements on the back end. And so I think capital is important. I think just as important is as we get Z3 product out in the field and cycling and customers can go out and see it and test it and look at the data and the successes, I think that’s very important. And then the third piece that customers are mentioning is just additional clarity around domestic content, IRA credits.
There’s still a lot of discussion around that [Technical Difficulty] folks we’re talking to. So I think as those three — as we have clarity on those three things, we should see a significant increase in customers moving through our commercial pipeline.
Joe Mastrangelo: And Chris, I’d add — I mean, I think Nathan’s kind of gave you the technical, how we get their response. Like the way I’ve always thought about this in my 30-year career is that when someone decides to place a purchase order with the company, they’re making a bet on you. And when we’re talking about these types of projects, and like — and I’m very passionate about the fact that we’ve got to start speeding up and doing things faster to meet the demand of this market. But you’re looking at projects where someone is making a purchasing decision today. And if they’re lucky, they’re going to get their grid connection in two to three years. So they’re sitting there making this decision and saying, “I’m making my bet on this company and these people for something that’s going to happen two to three years from now.” So what we need to do is, as Nathan said, secure the financing to scale the factory and show them that we’re going to be there to deliver that project.
And yes, bringing them and showing them the manufacturing of the product and how the product works helps. But we’ve got to also show them that we’re going to stand by the commitments that we make, and we’re going to deliver on those commitments as we move forward. And that’s as important as anything of having the underlying financials. It’s both things. It’s the — being able to be there from a financing standpoint and being able to be there from a reliable partner that delivers, and we’re doing both.
Christopher Souther: Yeah. That’s really helpful. I’ll hop in the queue. Thanks, guys.
Joe Mastrangelo: Thanks, Chris.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Vincent Anderson with Stifel. Your line is open.
Vincent Anderson: Yeah, thanks. Good morning, everyone. So just maybe to get it out of the way, it sounds like you’ve completed everything you needed to on your end of the loan process, which I believe would include the term sheet. If that’s the case, did the 30-day clock start on the treasury OMB approval process? Or does that still wait until the loan goes through this new, call it, pre-conditional commitment review?
