Con Man Scammed Washington DC Into Believing He Invented 'Fuel Shark' For EVs
Do Washington D.C. city officials not read Jalopnik? If they did, they probably wouldn’t have entered into a contract with a con artist. DC’s WUSA reports that Lawrence Hardge — a man who isn’t me— has managed to scam his way into an actual contract with the city’s public works department.
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For those of you just tuning in, Lawrence Hardge is one part of a larger scam operation/EV startup called Mullen Automotive. He’s also someone that I’ve been repeatedly mistaken for for months, resulting in weird Facebook messages and friend requests from people all across the world.
An image of what the device supposedly looks likeScreenshot: SEC.gov
Hardge claims to be an inventor. Aside from some random fire extinguisher he created, his main claim to fame is being founder and CEO of a company called Global EV Technology and inventing a device called the Ever-Charge Technology. Supposedly, this device can extend the range of any EV battery by “rejuvenating” it as Hardge claims. This “rejuvenation” is achieved by… who knows. But apparently DCs department of public works was sold on it, as it has apparently entered into a contract with Hardge for the device.
WUSA managed to find a deleted video post from Hardge in late April showing him in the garages of the DC public works. DC officals wanted Hardge’s devices installed on parking enforcement vehicles — Chevy Bolts. The department entered into a contract with Hardge’s company earlier this year.
DC government awarded a contract in February with Hardge’s company. The contract says it will cost $14,000 per vehicle to install his modules and $3,000 per vehicle for “data monitoring.” That’s a total of $680,000 taxpayer dollars to refit 40 D.C. parking enforcement cars. The contract also gives Hardge’s company exclusive space in D.C.’s maintenance bays.
But as with most things this guy touches, none of this adds up. WUSA took Hardge’s claims about his EV extending device to the University of Maryland’s electrical engineering labs, who debunked it. WUSA asked GM if they were aware of the claims Hardge was making about extending the Bolt’s range; the company said it wasn’t aware and isn’t taking part in it.
Making matters worse, a spokesperson for the public works department told WUSA that they only became aware of Hardge, his company and tech after he did a presentation last year.
“We learned about the EV Technologies modules when the company made a presentation during the 2022 Washington Auto Show,” the spokesperson said. More embarrassingly, city officials also weren’t aware that Hardge is a convicted felon, something that they say they’ll now be looking into.
Court documents show Hardge was sentenced to 26 years in prison for a felony conviction in 2001. He was found guilty of selling unregistered securities from his home state of Mississippi. Hardge served five years in prison and tried to expunge, or wipe, his criminal record in 2021. A Mississippi judge rescinded Hardge’s temporary felony expungement in March 2022, after a judge’s order shows allegations surfaced that Hardge used business investor’s money to repay the people he defrauded in 2001.
WUSA9 asked the D.C. government whether it knew that Mississippi court records consider Hardge a convicted felon before it signed a contract with him.
A spokesperson with DC Office of Contracts and Procurement responded that the department wasn’t aware of that until the day WUSA9 informed them and that it is “actively investigating the situation.
As for Hardge, he issued a poorly written statement when asked if he could show and explain how his device worked, claiming he’s “under a strict non-disclosure agreement. I can’t discuss anything regarding D.C.” This whole thing is a mess. Everyone should be questioning how DC officials entered into a contract with a known con artist, using taxpayer funds to pay him for a device whose technology can be easily debunked.
