The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a new program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that aims to expand the infrastructure needed to keep electric vehicles charged.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways:
The White House also highlighted actions from several companies to help expand access to EV chargers, including Tesla's decision to open at least 7,500 stations in its U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charger network to non-Tesla vehicles by the end of 2024.
"All EV drivers will be able to access these stations using the Tesla app or website," the White House said in a statement. "Additionally, Tesla will more than double its full nationwide network of Superchargers, manufactured in Buffalo, New York."
Hertz and bp, meanwhile, plan to build a national network of fast-charging stations designed to serve rideshare, tax drivers, car rental customers, and the general public near "high-demand locations, such as airports."
The White House also championed efforts by companies such as General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Cars, and Starbucks to expand the EV charging network.
The administration said all of these initiatives support President Joe Biden's goal of making electric vehicles 50 percent of all auto sales by 2030. In 2022, they made up about 10 percent of all sales.
A.I.-based entertainment company, Deedub, recently raised
$20 million in a Series A round, led by Insight Partners. Deepdub uses A.I. technology to automate the dubbing process for foreign-language movies or TV shows, while using actors' original voices. The company says it can take just two to three minutes of data from an actor's voice and transform the voice into a different language. The funding comes as foreign-language films and shows like Netflix's 'Squid Game' have recently become more popular with audiences in the U.S. and around the world. Oz Krakowski, Chief Revenue Officer at Deepdub, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Energy Vault, the company developing sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the completion of its business combination with Novus Capital Corporation II. Energy Vault develops sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions designed to advance the transition to a carbon free, resilient power grid. Robert Piconi, co-founder and CEO of Energy Vault, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to disucss.
A new mobile app has launched just in time for Valentine's Day. Our.Love bills itself as an A.I.-powered, gamified, relationship wellness app for couples. The app is set in what the company calls the Coupleverse, a virtual world where each couple can build a virtual relationship home as they also build their real-world relationship. Founder and CEO Tal Zlotnitsky joined Cheddar to discuss how the app works. "The concept behind Our.Love is to give people the opportunity to understand where they stand in their relationship through very simple metrics that we provide within the app that will help them in real-time, see where they stand, see where their partner is, and be able to get closer together," he said.
Alyson Wilson, VP of Brand Innovation at Alo Yoga, joins Cheddar News to discuss the yoga apparel company entering the metaverse and teaming up with Spring Studios for New York Fashion Week.
Sēkr, a mobile app that aims to improve and digitize the outdoor travel experience, announced this week that it raised a $2.25 million seed round. In the Sēkr app, users can get access to more than 50,000 campsites throughout the U.S. including the nation's largest database of free campsites. The company is saying it is on a mission to make every step of the planning experience for outdoor travel easier, safer, and more social. Breanne Acio, co-founder and CEO of Sēkr, and Jess Shisler, co-founder and COO, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
