With a substantial number of new electric vehicles in the works, General Motor's first chief sustainability officer says automakers are hoping consumers embrace the new technology in the same way early drivers switched from horses and buggies to motorized vehicles.
Dane Parker noted that the first cars were more convenient, quieter, and "better in every other way" than the old way of getting around. He expects those benefits to also drive people today to eco-friendly vehicles.
"I think we're going to see the same with electric vehicles as we enter this 100-year period," Dane Parker, said.
Although, as GM just announced its new all-electric Hummer, the company may hope adoption comes sooner than that.
Parker's optimism rests, in part, on a conviction that electric vehicles outperform conventional ones.
"They will be desirable in all other types of ways," he said.
In order to convince drivers to try EVs, Parker said the vehicles will need to solve the three concerns most frequently cited by GM customers: cost, range, and charging locations.
"We're addressing all three of those and pretty aggressively, and we're optimistic in the near future none of those are going to be barriers," he said.
Parker's role as the chief sustainability officer includes engaging with employees as well as dealing with the nuts and bolts of the vehicles. "Ultimately we think every employee can make an impact in their own lives as well as what we do as a business."
"As we look to the next 10 years, I think we'll see aggressive adoption of electric vehicles as those barriers come down," he said.
High-speed connectivity solutions provider Credo went public on the Nasdaq on Thursday, raising $200 million in its IPO. CEO Bill Brennan, joined Cheddar to discuss its entry into the capital markets and the next chapter for the company. "We're going to be focused on what we have been focused on, which is really creating, creating innovative connectivity solutions that really pushed the edge on efficient power as well as very effective cost," he said.
BD Veritor is a variation of the at-home COVID test that uses a smartphone to interpret the results. The test is taken via a nose swab test strip that is then scanned by your phone’s camera with the result clearly displayed as positive or negative. James Walker, vice president of integrated diagnostics USA for BD, joined Cheddar to discuss how the test hopefully takes the "guesswork out of testing." Walker also went into what BD is doing to deal with the surging demand for at-home tests amid the omicron spread. "While we don't disclose how much we produce, we have capacity to manufacture up to 12 million rapid antigen tests per month and are delivering on our commitments to distributors and retailers," he said.
Low-code app development platform Crowdbotics raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Jackson Square Ventures. Crowdbotics has helped more than 14,000 customers launch apps without having to learn how to code. The company can offer a team of expert developers to help companies launch custom apps, or provide the means for companies to develop apps themselves. Crowdbotics CEO Anand Kulkarni joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Nathan Harding, CEO of Luum, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss the process of having a robot put on eyelash extensions, and how automation is making its way into the beauty industry
Kevin Yu, Founder and CEO of Sidechef, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how it's building a platform to make recipe shopping easy, and how its features help you discover new recipes with the same ingredients to fight the massive problem of food waste.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Sidechef CEO breaks down how it's building a platform to make recipe shopping easy; Luum CEO explains the process of having a robot put on eyelash extensions; A look at Curiosity Stream's new original series, 'Evolve.'
