General Motors is partnering with electric vehicle charging network EVgo to build 2,700 new fast-charging stations across the U.S. over the next five years.
This would triple EVgo's current footprint of 800 stations across 34 states and provide the needed infrastructure for the electric vehicle boom.
"This is a fantastic boost for the business," Cathy Zoi, CEO of EVgo, told Cheddar. "We're seeing the United States ramping up right now on electric vehicles. The sales are increasing, and importantly the number of models is increasing."
GM alone is set to produce 23 new models by 2023, which means more electric cars on the streets. At the moment, however, most owners rely entirely on their home hook-ups to charge.
"The key to this is around leaning in and making sure we're ahead of the market," said Alex Keros, lead architect of EV infrastructure for GM. "It's really around building a full ecosystem, whether you're charging at home, whether you're at work, whether you're on the road for a longer trip."
How the EV industry thinks about the role of charging stations in growing the market for electric vehicles is often a "chicken or an egg conversation," he added. Do more people need to buy EVs before the infrastructure can grow? Or does the infrastructure already need to be there for widespread adoption to take place?
Ultimately GM settled on the idea that the "infrastructure needs to be there," he said.
In California, where EV ownership is the highest in the country, charging infrastructure has sprouted up all over the state. This initiative aims to broaden the footprint nationally, in anticipation of greater EV adoption, by providing highly-visible charging locations in about 40 metropolitan areas.
"Think of Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Orlando, all kinds of places," Zoi said.
Many of these stations, she added, will be at locations where vehicles can charge while you're doing something else.
"Our favorite place to site our charger is at a grocery store parking lot," Zoi said. "So it takes you 60 seconds or less to plug in, and then you go in to do your shopping."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
