Table of Contents

• A Bronco, a brother, and a big idea
• A woman at the wheel, driving change
• The soul of a classic, the power of the future
• Building and growing a business that’s as smart as its cars
• Take the guesswork out of growth with QuickBooks

Walk into Arc Motor Company’s bright, airy workshop on any given day, and you’ll be walking into a classic car lover’s dream—one where you might find a vintage red Pontiac Firebird resting in a bay, waiting for its gas-driven history to be seamlessly merged into an electric future. Or perhaps you’ll stumble on a turquoise 1974 Ford Bronco—practically a twin to the one that started it all—in mid-transformation, the rumble of its V8 engine replaced by the sleek purr of an electric drivetrain capable of delivering double the horsepower and torque. 

And at the heart of it all? Sloane Paul, Arc Motor Company's founder and CEO. 

Sloane, a former business strategist and product marketer with Microsoft, never set out to disrupt the auto industry. She just had a question that kept going unanswered: Why couldn’t classic cars get a cleaner, quieter, second life? 

And deep within this dearth of answers? Sloane saw an EV-inspired future no one else was building.

A Bronco, a brother, and a big idea

A huge classic car fan, Sloane had set her heart on restoring a 1969 Ford Bronco she owned that was in disrepair. “I’m very conscious of the environment,” she says. “I really do feel we all have skin in the game. So I was looking for a company to help me electrify the Bronco.” 

But she couldn’t. No one seemed to be offering the kind of high-performance, high-quality EV conversion she wanted. So she dug a little deeper, saw a gap in the market—and Arc Motors was born. 

Of course, starting an EV conversion business when you don’t have any automotive experience is no small feat.

Luckily, Sloane had an ace up her sleeve: her brother, Tom Chep.

Tom, an electrical engineer, had years of experience working with companies like Rolls Royce and Toyota. “The good news when you’re starting an EV company with no experience,” Sloane jokes, “is that you have a brother who’s an electrical engineer.”

A woman at the wheel, driving change

Whether accompanied by the roar of a gas-powered engine or the steady hum of an electric powertrain, the auto industry has been, for decades now, an overwhelmingly male-dominated world. But with Arc Motors, Sloane is proving that, when it comes to automotive innovation, no one cares who’s at the wheel.  

“In the classic car industry and even just the auto industry in general, I didn’t really see a lot of people who looked like me,” she says. “And then there’s the unconscious bias. So you can end up running into difficulties sometimes.” 

But she’s never seen these challenges as a reason to step back. “It’s important to me, as a woman of colour, to provide representation in this industry.” And this visibility matters: “You can’t be it until you see it, right?” she says. “So, for me to be in this position, that’s active visibility.” 

With firsthand knowledge of how intimidating it can be to step into an unfamiliar environment, she sees her position as an opportunity to help carve out space for others. “I hope that I can inspire others to do something that they might feel a bit intimidated about doing—which I felt at the very beginning, too.”

The soul of a classic, the power of the future

Ask most classic car lovers, and they’ll tell you: A classic car isn’t just metal and mechanics. At their core, classic vehicles tell stories, tales of history, nostalgia, and craftsmanship all rolled into one. 

You just have to know how to listen.

And Sloane does—her passion for the stories classic cars tell is clear.

For her, the EV conversion isn’t some sterile changeover, the mere swapping out of the old for the new. “It’s more like a heart transplant,” she explains. “And, like a heart transplant, it lets you live a longer life, but the soul is still there.”

Arc isn’t about pushing electrification on every vintage vehicle, though. It’s not in the business of erasing history, it’s in the business of preserving it.

“There’s a misconception out there,” Sloane says, “that we’re an electric shop, so that means we’re encouraging everyone to electrify their vehicles. We’re not. We’re just providing everyone with an option.” 

And it’s a sound option: reduce emissions, while keeping your car’s vintage soul intact—because for Sloane, sustainability is about more than the future. It’s also about respecting the past. 

Building and growing a business that’s as smart as its cars

Growing Arc Motors into the thriving business it’s become involved more than figuring out all the technical details of converting vintage vehicles into smooth running EV cars. Sloane had to learn how to scale the company without losing control of all the details.

“It was just a no-brainer for us to go with QuickBooks,” she says. “I need as much help as I can get.”

With a business like Arc, where every build is custom and all parts need to be sourced and tracked, access to clear financial insights in real-time is critical. QuickBooks gives Sloane all that, and more.

“When I open up QuickBooks Advanced, I’m able to see the reporting and readjust for the next month if I need to,” she says. 

For Sloane, it’s all about staying financially sharp. “QuickBooks gives me the ability to focus on the things that matter in terms of growth, all while making sure that the foundation of the business is strong.” 

Take the guesswork out of growth with QuickBooks Advanced

Growth is exciting, but it comes with its fair share of challenges: More transactions. More complexity. More moving parts overall. That’s why Sloane Paul trusts QuickBooks Advanced to help keep Arc Motor Company's finances running smoothly, so she can focus on growing the business—without getting lost in the numbers.

When your business is growing, you need an accounting system that can keep up. From customizable workflows and automated reporting to secure, real-time collaboration, QuickBooks Advanced gives you the insights and tools you need to complete critical tasks faster and delegate with confidence. Take your business to the next level—get started with QuickBooks Advanced today.