The coffee won’t be the only thing giving you a jolt.
The electric vehicle sector could probably use a little pick-me-up right about now.
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While EVs were once the symbol of a clean energy future, the sector has been battered lately by stories of declining sales and industry slowdowns as automakers are have cut back or scrubbed their EV expansion plans.
A Deloitte study found that shift to electrified vehicles is happening at very different speeds depending on the individual market, and noted that "affordability, range anxiety and lack of charging infrastructure concerns remain as significant barriers to adoption."
Ah, yes, range anxiety: that nagging feeling you'll go on road trip in your EV and run out of juice before you find a place to charge up.
Last year Starbucks (SBUX) -) announced a partnership with Volvo USA to electric-vehicle stations in some of the coffee chain's parking lots.
Now, 50 ChargePoint CHPT fast chargers are online at 15 Starbucks locations along a 1,350-mile route between Denver and Seattle, the java giant's hometown.
Charging locations every 100 miles
The charging locations are installed every 100 miles, so hopefully the only thing causing the jitters will be caffeine and not the fear of running out of power.
The average EV sold in the U.S. is approaching a range of 300 miles on a full charge, according to Bloomberg.
Both companies have major environmental goals: Volvo Cars aims to be fully electric by 2030, while Starbucks' goal is to reduce its carbon, water and waste footprints by half by 2030.
ChargePoint, which recently missed Wall Street's third-quarter revenue expectations, named Rick Wilmer, the company's chief operating officer, as its new president and CEO, replacing Pasquale Romano.
Mansi Khetani was named interim chief financial officer following the departure of former CFO Rex Jackson.
"While the quarter was nowhere near expectation, the big picture still looks very good," Wilmer said during a call with analysts. "We have had challenges executing and this is what the new leadership team is here to fix. We are firmly committed to being profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis in Q4 of calendar 2024."
Wilmer also said that he is rebuilding the company entire after sales program “to prioritize customer care, ensure predictable deployments, and to deliver exceptional support.”
The number of charge points in the U.S. is forecast to rise from about 4 million currently to 35 million in 2030, according to a PwC analysis, with single-unit and multi-unit residential segments accounting for about 80% of all charge points.
Blink CEO: future is bright
The at-work and on-the-go EV charging segments are potentially the fastest growing through 2030, PWC said.
More than 20 EV charging startups in the E.U. and U.S. have been acquired since 2021, several by major energy companies.
Blink Charging (BLNK) -) Charging has acquired four startups since 2020, including two in last year, PwC said.
Brendan Jones, Blink Charging's CEO, said the charging infrastructure is steadily expanding and the EV future is bright.
Right now, Jones told TheStreet, the EV sector is experiencing a bit of downward pressure which he said will ease over time.
Meanwhile, the first electric vehicle charging station funded by a $7.5 billion U.S. government program has begun operating in Ohio, the White House said Dec. 11, according to Reuters.
The Biden Administration’s goal is to grow the nationwide network of chargers to 500,000, including high-speed chargers - no more than 50 miles apart - on the nation's busiest highways and interstates.
As of December, the United States has more than 165,000 public charging ports and since the start of the Biden administration, the number of publicly available fast charging ports has increased by more than 70%, the White House said.
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