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Electric cars are the future. Literally.

Whether you want to go green or not, most of us are going to be driving an EV in the next two decades. Automakers are spending billions retooling factories and revamping their fleets to go most or all-electric in the next ten to 15 years, plans fully endorsed by President Joe Biden who wants half of all U.S. auto sales to be electric vehicles by 2030. That’s a massive goal considering the market, including plug-in hybrids, currently stands at about 3%.

One of the biggest barriers to EV adoption is America’s charging network. There are roughly 136,400 gas stations in the U.S., but just 43,800 EV charging stations, according to the Department of Energy. And it takes about 10 minutes to fill your car with a tank of gas but about 45 minutes to fully charge an EV, sometimes longer.

While Biden has pledged to build out 500,000 charging stations across the U.S. by 2030 as part of his $2 trillion infrastructure plan, we are still a long way from there.

So my producer Harriet Taylor and I decided to put California’s charging infrastructure to the test on an 8-hour road trip from Southern California to San Francisco. California accounted for 9% of EV sales in the first quarter and has the largest charging network in America, so it made sense to start there.

We specifically wanted to test anything other than a Tesla, which has the single-largest charging network in the world with 25,000 global charging stations. You need an adapter to use it, but the benefits and wide availability of Tesla’s charging network are generally well known. 

Charging on the road with any car brand other than Tesla is something you don’t hear much about. 

I admit that even as a “car guy” I had a lot of questions about charging, the new terminology, the speed, potential costs and more. 

We rented a brand new Polestar 2, Volvo’s recent entry into the electric car market, from Enterprise. Most EVs have a range, how far it can drive on a single full charge, of between 100 and 300 miles. The Polestar’s range was advertised at 265 miles, but that can change depending on a variety of things: cold weather, driving up or down hills or using the AC, for instance.

I had driven the Polestar 2 on a brief test a few months earlier so was familiar with it enough to feel comfortable on a long drive.  

CNBC

We drove about 60 miles from Enterprise to our first stop at Mountain Pass, Calif., about 15 miles from the Nevada border in the “high desert” at around 5 p.m. on a Tuesday night at 105 degrees.

We had to remove a metal cover from a power outlet at the mine but then we were able to plug in and get to 100% before setting off.

Two initial takes after just a few miles: One, its easy to get anxious by staring at the giant “percent charged” screen (so we turned it off) and two, we had to download a bunch of apps as we learned to navigate the new “range world.”

Source: CNBC

Our go-to became PlugShare, which shows you where charging stations are regardless of who owns them, which network it was on, how fast it took to charge, whether its currently available and, hopefully, a picture so you can see what you’re getting into. 

PlugShare became a favorite because it was brand-agnostic and customers left reviews of their experience. Those reviews were valuable, because we found that many chargers weren’t nearly as fast as advertised and some just didn’t work or were in weird locations.  

The Polestar also has Google map integration that shows charging stations along the route as well as your projected percent charge when you arrived.  We found the charging forecast very accurate, but we think Google could improve the experience by filtering by types of chargers (we had Tesla envy as their stations popped up everywhere).

Stop 1: Electrify America at a Walmart

We rolled into our first stop at a Walmart in Barstow, Calif. It was an Electrify America location, and they had about eight chargers. Only one was occupied — by an Audi eTron — and so we plugged in, hitting the store for the facilities and, honestly, just to walk around in the air conditioning (did we mention it was hot, hot, hot?!). 

Charging took 37 minutes and cost us $13.33.

Brian Sullivan using a charging station in Sunnyvale
CNBC

Now, off to Bakersfield.

The drive along Route 58 was fascinating. We passed one of the airplane storage fields along with the Alta Wind Energy Center, one of the biggest wind energy facilities in the world.   It was a gorgeous drive at sunset coming down the mountain with lots of hills along this route. 

Hills matter for the Polestar 2 in two ways: first, up hill seems to burn more charge as the car is under load pulling its own weight up hill, but going down is a win because the car has a system that generates power by slowing the car without braking. So once you get the hang of it, you almost never touch the brake pedal and produce some power while you do it.

Stop 2: The Hampton Inn

We rolled into Bakersfield at 18% charge after covering 135 miles and plugged into Chargepoint system at the Hampton Inn. It only had two plugs but we were the only car there and the night manager said he’s actually never seen anyone use it. It was slow, but free, and we left with an 89% charge about 10 hours later.

The long, boring and hot (did we mention it was hot?) drive straight up I-5 through the breadbasket of California was next.  Harriet had a 4 p.m. flight out of San Francisco airport so we were on a bit of a tight schedule and had to leave time to charge.

Pro tip: when planning a trip, it helps to be relatively good at math to help calculate various charging time scenarios.

Source: CNBC

Stop 3: Electrify America at Shell gas station

The various apps showed us the best possible stop was in Firebaugh, about 140 miles up the road.  There looked to be a few fast food joints and places to get a coffee. And that’s pretty much all it was.  Our Electrify America plug was at a Shell gas station (as many seem to be) with a small convenience store.

Source: CNBC

We grabbed some water and just, well, stood around. It took us 41 minutes and cost $21.93 to get to an 87% charge, and we enviously eyed the Tesla network across the road, where drivers charged more quickly and had shade from the stations’ roof (did we mention how hot it was?).  We went back in to buy sunscreen.

Now, the final leg.  Firebaugh to the San Francisco International airport. Or not. The car’s software indicated we would hit SFO with a meager 5% charge. And since I was continuing on to the city, it wouldn’t be enough. We would have to stop again.  Annoying, but not the end of the world given that we were going to be hungry and we were rolling into Silicon Valley, where charging stations are as plentiful as garlic in Gilroy.  We found a charger near a ramen joint and powered up both ourselves and the car.

I dropped Harriet off at the airport and finished the short ride into the city, arriving near the CNBC studio with a solid 42% charge and a lot of curious looks from drivers wondering what kind of car it was.

Pro tip #2: Because of the hills, SF is the perfect place for the Polestar 2 and its regenerative braking!  

Final thoughts

A long road trip in an EV right now is not impossible, but it’s not ideal. Yes, we know that something like 95% of trips by car are short hops along the same routes: Work, school, store, repeat. 

Electric cars may be the future, but the future needs to speed up. And by that, we mean charging speeds have got to accelerate as quickly as the Polestar 2 at a green light: 45 minutes every 200 miles or so won’t cut it for any family looking to make a longer road trip.

We didn’t see a shortage of charger. Even in the desert we found chargers to use.  There is, however, a shortage of chargers in places you really want to stop. Ultimately, I think the EV play is less about cars and more about real estate.

The more EVs on the road, the more charging stations that will be needed. There’s not a lot of demand for them right now, so charging ports were plentiful on our trip. But just think of 20 cars sitting for 45 minutes or more at a time at a single charging station. That takes up a lot of time and space.

For most people, a new car needs to have utility 100% of the time. Based on this trip, it’s not clear we are there yet. 

CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this article.

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Tesla and Rivian are settling their battery tech theft lawsuit

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Tesla and Rivian are settling their battery tech theft lawsuit

Tesla and Rivian have been embroiled in a lawsuit in which the former accused the latter of having stolen battery technology by poaching Tesla employees.

It sounds like the two automakers are finally about to settle the lawsuit, which has been going on for 4 years.

In 2020, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Rivian over allegedly stealing trade secrets by hiring former Tesla employees and encouraging them to bring documents. Rivian has denied the allegations.

When Tesla filed the lawsuit, it wasn’t clear what trade secrets Tesla was claiming Rivian had stolen. However, we noted that the employees listed in the lawsuits were two recruiters, an EHS manager, and a manager of Tesla’s charging networks.

The automaker claimed that these employees brought “documents consisting of highly sensitive trade secret, confidential, and proprietary engineering information” when they went to work for Rivian.

A year later, Tesla expanded the lawsuitclaiming more specifically that Rivian was “stealing the core technology for its next-generation batteries.”

At first, the companies tried to settle out of court, but it didn’t work out, so the lawsuit was moved to court last year.

Over a year later, we now learn that Tesla had notified the court that it expects to file to get the lawsuit dismissed after reaching a conditional agreement with Rivian. The company didn’t disclose the details of the settlement (via Bloomberg):

Tesla didn’t disclose specifics about the agreement in a court filing, but told a California state judge that it expects to seek dismissal of the case by Dec. 24 upon satisfactory completion of the terms.

Neither Tesla nor Rivian have commented on the reported settlement.

While Tesla has claimed that it somewhat open-sourced its patents, we have previously noted that it’s not exactly the case. Tesla claims to let other companies use its patented technology as long as they themselves don’t sue them over patent rights.

And in this specific case, Tesla alleges that Rivian has specifically hired employees to steal technologies. Again, Rivian has denied the allegation.

Electrek’s Take

The terms are unknown, but in similar cases, it often involves things like some level of access to make sure that no proprietary technology is being used or has been used.

The lawsuit is not exactly clear, but based on the timeline and the allegations of “next-gen batteries”, Tesla could have been talking about its 4680 battery cells, although those are cells. It could also be the structural battery pack.

Rivian is expected to use a taller 4695 battery from LG Energy Solutions for its next-generation vehicles.

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Kempower, Proviridis partner on novel electric semi truck charging solution

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Kempower, Proviridis partner on novel electric semi truck charging solution

French infrastructure specialists Proviridis have partnered with EVSE manufacturer Kempower to deliver a novel, underground charging solution for electric semi trucks designed to easily integrate into existing truck depots.

By installing its high-powered charging cabinets underground and integrating the charging cables into a solid metal pipe, Kempower and Proviridis have been able to make room for high-powered charging points in an existing truck depot that didn’t have enough space to install either conventional EVSE or overhead “drop lines.”

For the pilot, the metal pipe is painted in a striking yellow color to make it easier to see while maneuvering the lot, and keeping the dispensers themselves more protected than conventional concrete bollards. The 600 kW power cabinet is positioned a few yards away – a typical space-saving Kempower solution – and connected to the charge points by underground cable.

Proviridis believes their solution provides enough of a competitive advantage that fleet buyers looking to electrify will be eager to give it a try.

“The product is durable across a wide spectrum of temperatures and conditions, requires minimal ventilation, and can cater for a wide range of customer needs,” explains Olivier Verdu, Technical Director at Proviridis. “These are features which perfectly place the Kempower solution for this type of charging configuration in a logistics environment.”

Electrek’s Take

While traditional charging equipment can cause up to 20% of an existing truck depot’s parking capacity to be lost, the Kempower products have already gained recognition for the efficient size footprint of its overground Satellites. If this underground version proves to be even better, you can expect to see a lot more Kempower installations near you.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Kempower.

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For a limited time, save $500 on a Centris folding eBike from Buzz Bicycles

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For a limited time, save 0 on a Centris folding eBike from Buzz Bicycles

In honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, eBike specialist Buzz Bicycles is offering an exclusive discount for Electrek readers on its Centris Class 2 Folding Bike.

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Buzz Bicycles is back with an exclusive new deal

Buzz Bicycles has been a mainstay on Electrek for a few years now, as we have covered several of its electric bikes, which suit riders of all skill levels and help them “Buzz through life.” Buzz is an omnichannel eBike brand that prioritizes direct-to-consumerism and has found success in its mission to deliver ultimate transportation solutions at an excellent value for its growing base of eBike enthusiasts.

The company strives to deliver riders a “Wow moment,” which is usually brought on as they feel the pedal assist function kick in. This feature delivers all you need to conquer hills and longer rides while enjoying new adventures with friends.

The Buzz team has utilized decades of industry experience into its portfolio of eBikes, all conceived and designed in Dayton, Ohio. The company, which operates under the United Wheels umbrella alongside brands like Huffy Bicycles, Niner Bikes, and Batch Bicycles, has adopted an ethos that the freedom of riding should be fun and accessible for everyone, no matter what adventure lies ahead.

By leveraging the global presence of its parent company, Buzz Bicycles can make good on its promise to deliver affordable eBikes that are comfortable, powerful, and safe, much like the Centris Folding eBike, which is as versatile and compact as it is fun. The exclusive deal Buzz Bicycles is offering on the Centris makes it even more fun. You can take advantage of it below.

But first, you’ll want to learn about the capabilities of this foldable eBike to truly understand its value, as well as what accessories are available to level up your purchase.

Buzz Bicycles

The Buzz Centris is an easy to ride foldable eBike for all

The Buzz Centris is a Class 2 Folding eBike built for comfort and convenience no matter where you take it. At full size, the Centris’ step-through frame offers a low step-over height of just 16 inches, perfect for riders of all sizes, enabling easy transitions from ground to saddle for its riders.

When you’re not riding, the Centris from Buzz Bicycles folds neatly to 34 inches in length and 22 inches in height, making it easy to store at home or to carry in a vehicle on the way to your next ride. Furthermore, the assembled bike only weighs 68 pounds, making it easy to transport.

You can easily navigate tougher terrain on the Centris thanks to the eBike’s 20″ x 4″ knobby tires and front suspension. The bike is powered by a 48V, 500-watt-hour (Wh) battery pack that can propel it to a top speed of 20 mph for an all-electric range of up to 40 miles on a single charge.

Additionally, this folding model from Buzz Bicycles comes equipped with both a front and rear rack, offering versatile cargo-carrying options so you can customize your ride with a variety of Buzz accessories.

Like all Buzz eBikes, the Centris is tested and deemed compliant with the UL2849 standard. This standard covers the entire electric bicycle system, including the motor, battery, controller, and charger, offering the highest safety standards for added peace of mind.

The Centris Class 2 folding bike from Buzz is available in two colors: Gloss White or Matte Black. This $1,199 eBike is currently reduced to $899 – and you can score an additional $200 off with this exclusive promo, but only for a limited time.

With the purchase of any Buzz eBike, including the Centris, you are guaranteed the following:

  • 10-year limited warranty (lightweight aluminum frame protected for full 10 years)
  • 2-year limited warranty (electrical components covered by 2-year warranty for peace of mind)
  • 6-month limited warranty (additional bike components protected by a 6-month warranty)
Buzz Bicycles

Are you interested in the Centris from Buzz Bicycles? You’ve come to the right place. Starting today, while supplies last, you can take advantage of an additional $200 off the sale price by using promo code “ELECTREK200. That’s a $500 discount in total!

Don’t wait, because this deal only runs through 11:59 PM on December 8, 2024.

We highly recommend perusing Buzz’s entire lineup of products. They are designed for commuters and casual riders, with technology and features that help you quickly feel comfortable riding. If you are new to the world of E-transportation, Buzz Bicycles is the brand for you. 

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