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.
Elon Musk continues on his path to make a reusable rocket with his starship project, but it's not going to be easy. If successful, the rocket would heavily reduce launch costs, in addition to further developing Starlink, Musk’s satellite-based internet service. Rick Tumlinson, founding partner at Space Fund, spoke to Cheddar News about the future of SpaceX.
We are just one day away from what has been called the most influential tech event in the world. CES 2022 will officially kick off on Wednesday in Las Vegas, but the annual tech summit is being impacted by COVID-19, like so many other recent events. The Consumer Technology Association originally planned for a hybrid event to take place from January 5-8, with some in-person events and some virtual; however, a few big-name companies announced they will not be attending in-person, so the CTA decided to shorten the event by one day, with it now ending on Friday. Consumer electronics senior analyst Will Greenwald joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Harry Yeh, Managing Director at Quantum Fintech Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why his firm has a target estimate of $400,000 for Bitcoin this year.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Like the big changeover to e-commerce for retail, the COVID-19 pandemic has moved car buying trends to the digital showroom. Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, joined Cheddar to talk about the "mindset shift" in consumers and businesses to order-based systems in the United States (something more common in other countries). While more than 60 percent of consumers still prefer to visit dealerships in-person, Brauer noted that consumers are better off ordering a car to spec, which would also help improve supply constraints. "It's really bad right now to be building cars and not really knowing who's going to buy them or when they're going to sell," he said. Manufacturing a car to order would maximize the efficiency of obtaining materials through the supply chain rather than "shotgunning it" at dealerships.
Mark MacDougall, attorney and former prosecutor with the criminal division of the Department of Justice, joined Cheddar to discuss the fraud conviction of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. MacDougall addressed Holmes' stance that what she did was no different than any other Silicon Valley startup's approach to business and how this will shake out for the industry going forward. "I can't imagine it doesn't have some salutary effect on entrepreneurs and people involved in new ventures going forward," he said. Holmes was found guilty on 4 of 11 counts, with each carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison, but MacDougall explained that the lengthy prison sentences were unlikely.
Sports betting is going mainstream in the United States. Dozens of states have legalized it, California is set to do the same this year. Arizona, which legalized sports betting in September, set new national records for gambling in its first months. Daniel Graetzer, CEO of Maximbet, joins Cheddar News to discuss what's next for the booming industry.
A new report from ProPublica and the Washington Post found that Facebook Groups played a major role in the spread of misinformation linked to the January 6 insurrection with more than 650,000 posts claiming that Joe Biden's election victory was illegitimate.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Dr. Anita Gupta, Adjunct assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, shares her forecast for the healthcare industry in 2022; Waseem Asghar, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Computer & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University, breaks down the latest progress, trends, and innovations in wearable health tech; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Hacking our Biome.'
