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ChargePoint commits to build charging stations for 2.5 million cars by 2025

2014 BMW i3 REx fast-charging at Chargepoint site, June 2016 [photo: Tom Moloughney]
At the Global Climate Action Summit this week in San Francisco, several companies made commitments to reducing climate change.

ChargePoint, one of the oldest electric-car charging networks in the U.S., said Wednesday that it aims to complete enough charging stations globally by 2025 to cover 2.5 million parking spots. The commitment does not include thousands of home chargers that ChargePoint also sells. Each station could cover one or two parking spots, a ChargePoint spokeswoman said.

READ MORE: ChargePoint invests in commercial charging for buses, delivery vans, taxis

According to the company's website, it currently has 45,000 charging locations across the U.S. and has begun expanding in Europe.

Setting such a goal by 2025 represents a huge challenge for the company.

ChargePoint Express Plus modular DC fast-charging system for electric cars, launched at 2017 CES

“Our commitment to deploy 2.5 million charging spots by 2025 comes as the company embarks on the most significant period of growth in our history and in the midst of a revolution in transportation,” said Pasquale Romano, president and CEO, ChargePoint. “The time for transformative change is now, and broadly distributed, substantial and immediate investments in charging infrastructure are necessary to usher in the future of e-mobility.

“We're at a huge tipping point here,” he said, “where this thing begins to accelerate very, very quickly.”

Even as the Trump Administration in Washington, D.C., begins dismantling the legal framework that incentivized electric cars, Roman said, it's a “train that has already left the station.”

CHECK OUT: Gas stations aren't a model for electric-car charging: ChargePoint CEO

Romano said that he expects the electric-car business to grow from almost $78 billion last year to almost $128 billion by 2022.

The additional chargers from ChargePoint will help expand public charging at businesses, workplaces, apartment buildings, as well as charging for commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses.

ChargePoint recently acquired Kisensum, a data analytics firm focused on helping utilities manage power loads.

Facing increased competition, especially from Electrify America, operating under a court mandate to spend $2 billion expanding public charging in the same time frame, Romano says there is room for multiple charging networks in the industry, but he expects some consolidation.

ChargePoint to grow global EV charging network to 2.5 mln

FRANKFURT, Sept 14 (Reuters) – ChargePoint, operator of one of the world’s largest charging station networks for electric vehicles (EV), is targeting a near fifty-fold increase in its global network of loading spots by the middle of next decade, it said on Friday. The group, in which German companies BMW , Daimler and Siemens hold… Continue reading ChargePoint to grow global EV charging network to 2.5 mln

Baidu sets its sights on taking A.I. and self-driving cars outside China

Online search provider Baidu — referred to as the Google of China — has been expanding aggressively into cutting edge technology such as artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles.

The Chines tech titan is one of the largest internet companies in the world with a strong user base, thanks in no small part to China's massive population of 1.4 billion people.

About 70 percent of China's internet searches go through Baidu. The Chinese-language search platform is one of the most visited websites in the world, with its traffic surpassed only by Google, YouTube and Facebook, according to Alexa Internet, which measures web data and analytics.

Most of Baidu's revenue comes from online advertising. While its primary business is its search engine, it also offers maps, images, videos and news platforms to users. It's also a majority stakeholder in iQiyi, widely referred to as the Netflix of China.

But like other Chinese internet firms, Baidu is subject to Beijing's strict online censorship laws. The government has fined companies, including Baidu, for failing to properly censor content on its platforms.

Baidu is also investing heavily into its autonomous vehicle projects and has formed partnerships with the likes of Microsoft and Intel, and carmakers BMW, Ford and Daimler.

Leading the charge in China's push for driverless technology, Baidu has already developed and produced more than 100 self-driving buses. The autonomous vehicles will soon be deployed to the streets of Beijing and Shenzhen, and are due to enter Japan's self-driving market in early 2019.

The company has set its sights on markets outside China. It's next move would be to take its AI and self-driving technology to foreign markets, bringing it one step closer to becoming a global tech titan.

Hyundai Motor Group appoints heir apparent as chief vice chairman

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group said on Friday that it has appointed Chung Eui-sun, vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), to chief vice chairman of the group. Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun attends the company’s new year ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, January 2, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji Chung will… Continue reading Hyundai Motor Group appoints heir apparent as chief vice chairman

GM recalls 1 million pickup trucks, SUVs that could suffer steering malfunction

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A Tesla investor says he was recently questioned by US regulators about that infamous ‘funding secured’ tweet

Last week, onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt, regulator Jina Choi, who heads the SEC’s wide-reaching San Francisco unit, declined to confirm or deny that the SEC is investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk for possible fraud. Said Choi, “I can’t tell you about any particular investigation in our office. And I can’t confirm or deny the existence… Continue reading A Tesla investor says he was recently questioned by US regulators about that infamous ‘funding secured’ tweet

UPDATE 2-Volkswagen to end production of the Beetle next year

(Reuters) – Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) said on Thursday it would stop producing its Beetle compact car in 2019, ending a model that looked backward to the 1960s counterculture as the automaker prepares for a leap toward a future of mass-market electric cars. FILE PHOTO: A 2015 Volkswagen Beetle R-Line model is seen at the press day… Continue reading UPDATE 2-Volkswagen to end production of the Beetle next year

Bye-Bye, Beetle: VW to squash ‘Love Bug’ production

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German authorities uncover emissions-cheating collusion among diesel automakers

2014 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTec 4Matic
New documents revealed in a German investigation into diesel emissions cheating show that German automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz may have colluded to limit the amount of emissions-cleaning AdBlue diesel exhaust fluid the cars used.

The news was reported by the German newspaper Handelsblatt on Tuesday.

The AdBlue urea solution was contained in tanks too small to last the specified distance between refills, internal company documents reveal. In one 2008 email, an Audi engineer wrote that if customers had to refill their tanks every two months, “it would be a disaster for the entire clean diesel strategy in North America…. This assessment is shared also by VW, BMW, and Daimler.” (Daimler is the parent company that produces Mercedes-Benz cars.)

DON'T MISS: Volkswagen fires six managers over diesel emissions cheating

The documents were revealed as part of a criminal investigation in Germany of 39 Volkswagen executives for fraud and deceptive advertising.

An Audi presentation uncovered last year referred to a “commitment of the German automotive manufacturers at board level” to using smaller urea tanks and making them last longer.

All three automakers, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, along with Volkswagen and its luxury division Audi, submitted documents to German regulators showing that the cars would use 0.26 gallons (1 liter), of urea fluid in 1,000 miles of driving, when it fact it would take 0.78 gallons (3 liters) of the fluid to neutralize emissions for that distance.

CHECK OUT: Mercedes-Benz gets its own diesel emission cheating questions now

The documents show email exchanges among the companies discussing a German investigation into “defeat device software” used to minimize urea consumption and flout emissions laws when the cars were driven on the road, and still meet the requirements when the cars were tested.

All three automakers, plus Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, used emissions hardware and software from German supplier Bosch, which has also been sued for its role in the scandal.

READ THIS: Those fuel-efficient diesels? Actually worse on lifetime CO2, study says

The emissions cheating led to a historic settlement with Volkswagen that has cost the automaker an estimated $30 billion, including buying back most of the diesel models it sold in the U.S.

Bosch has settled lawsuits against it in relation to the scandal.

Class-action lawsuits are outstanding against BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and FCA.

Nio becomes first Chinese automaker to go public in US

Nio Formula E race car, EP9, ES8 and Eve concept car
Electric carmaker Nio became the first Chinese automaker to go public on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

In August, the Nio [NYSE: NIO] announced that it hoped to raise $1.3 billion in its initial public offering. Trading in its opening day fell short of that at just over $1 billion.

DON'T MISS: Chinese electric carmaker Nio seeks public funding in US

The company planned to used the funds to develop future electric cars for the U.S. and Chinese markets and to develop self-driving software.

Nio currently sells an electric SUV, the ES8 in China, designed to compete with the Tesla Model X.

The ES8 sells for $65,000 in China, about half what a Tesla Model X costs, and has 220 miles of range and 644 horsepower.

CHECK OUT: Chinese electric-car startup Nio gets $1 billion in funding: report

Nio became one of the most promising Chinese automakers after it introduced the EP9 electric supercar in 2016, then put the ES8 SUV into production.

The company also builds a race car for the Formula E series and has plans for a second electric production car, a luxury sedan based on its Eve concept car.

Nio doesn't sell the ES8 in the U.S., but has an office in San Jose, California to work on self-driving technology and bringing its cars to the U.S.