#ev-charging

#ev-charging

Uber will invest $100 million to build out public fast-charging stations across the U.S. and Europe, the company said Wednesday. The move aims to provide a backbone for its rapidly expanding autonomous vehicle (AV) ambitions, which now span the globe and include more than 20 partnerships. Now the company is turning to an absolutely essential piece of the puzzle: charging. Uber is partnering with private charging networks to build the stations, offering them minimum utilization guarantees.

For example, charging infrastructure has been somewhat of a bright spot in a dark EV world; reliability is up, access is expanding and new EV drivers are finally understanding how to use the things. Now, EV charging deserts and dead zones are becoming less common, as consumers continue to build confidence in EV ownership. And yet, despite all the bright news, some charging woes persist.

EVgo will build at least 150 fast charging stalls per year through 2035 at Kroger, Foods Co., Fred Meyer, Fry's Food Stores, Harris Teeter, King Soopers and Smith's Food and Drug locations across the U.S. Each station will feature up to 16 high-power stalls. The charging operator didn't say just how powerful these stalls would be, but the Salt Lake City location, which is a Smith's store, has 12 350-kilowatt chargers that can charge up to 24 cars simultaneously.

The ElectricFish 400squared can be installed in as little as a few hours instead of months. That's because it doesn't need costly grid upgradesand the secret lies inside the box. America's EV charging infrastructure is growing nicely, but there's still more to do if charging anxiety is to become a thing of the past. The U.S. has over 14,000 DC fast charging stations with more than 67,000 individual ports, but one startup reckons it can speed up installations by eliminating one of the main bottlenecks:

While I had this car, I had a nagging feeling that Kia built it down to a price, and you could see that, especially if you started touching the plastics around the cabin. It just doesn't feel premium enough for a vehicle that, as tested, costs more than 50,000 ($58,000) and still doesn't have all the available options. But it does get plenty of other things right.

Hyundai says it's working to make EV charging as fast as filling up a gas cartargeting about 3 minutes. The aim is partly to ease range anxiety, especially for drivers who can't charge at home. To reach that speed, Hyundai is developing 400 kW charging tech and working on major advances in battery tech without just increasing battery size. When you buy a modern Hyundai electric vehicle, you're already getting a car with some of the fastest DC charging out there.

Thanks to new silicon carbide (SiC) inverters, which are more efficient than traditional silicon semiconductors, the entry-level 2026 BMW i4 eDrive40 can now deliver over 300 miles of range on a full charge, irrespective of the wheel and tire combination. With 18-inch wheels, the rear-wheel drive EV has an estimated range of 333 miles, up 15 miles from the outgoing model. With 19-inch wheels, it can go 307 miles on a full charge, up 12 miles.

The discourse around EV charging usually centers on public fast chargers and Level 2 plugs installed in private homes. But not everyone needs to fast charge at a Tesla Supercharger or Electrify America station every day, unless they're road-tripping. And not everyone owns a home with a garage to install a Level 2 charger in the first place. Renters make up a large share of American households, yet they often lack adequate charging options.

Electrify America is now posting live updates about its DC fast chargers on Google Maps. EV drivers can use the navigation app to find available chargers. This way, owners don't have to jump from one app to another when planning a trip. Electrify America, one of the largest operators of electric vehicle fast chargers in the United States, is now offering real-time charger availability updates on Google Maps.

Electric vehicle charging software company Fuuse has raised a further £6 million from its existing investors, Par Equity and YFM Equity Partners, as it accelerates growth and moves closer to profitability. The Lancaster-based platform - which provides EV charge point management software and services - said the follow-on investment came at an increased valuation after the company more than doubled its recurring revenues since its previous funding round.

New York-based Voltpost has unveiled a new lamppost EV charger that can be installed in hours. Dubbed the Voltpost Air, the new Level 2 charger is much smaller than the company's previous model. It can be installed on almost any type of lamppost at a fraction of the cost of a traditional public Level 2 EV charger, which could supercharge the charging infrastructure in urban areas.

In a letter to the city on Sept. 9, U.S. DOT said it was immediately withdrawing the funding for the RAISE grant awarded for the Roxbury Resilient Transportation Corridors project because the project misaligns with the federal government's priorities of promoting "traditional forms of energy and natural resources," due to its use of EV charging stations. U.S. DOT awarded the RAISE grant in fiscal year 2022, covering $20 million of the project's estimated $34 million total cost.

The plug clicked. The screen said "charging." But the lights weren't flashing, so was it really working? Welcome to the sometimes-baffling learning curve of EV ownership, where even success can look like failure. Creator and model Natalie Gauvreau (@sngvip) gives voice to the guessing games and uncertainty of charging an EV in a viral TikTok clip shot recently near Dallas.

Creating garage space would increase the number of homes capable of EV charging from 31 million to more than 50 million. And when we include houses where the owner thinks it's feasible to add wiring, that grows to more than 72 million homes. And that's far more than Telemetry's most optimistic estimate of US EV penetration for 2035, which ranges from 33 million to 57 million EVs on the road 10 years from now.

Tesla Superchargers achieved a 709 score on a 1,000-point customer satisfaction scale, maintaining the highest reliability with a four percent failure rate among charging visits.

The Charge Rigs Flexx consists of a large boxy enclosure with batteries and a DC fast charger, resembling a powerful battery bank for EVs.

Volta Charging, an early entrant in the advertising and data business through its subsidiary Volta Media, is being shut down by Shell, its new owner.