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Weekly Tech Recap: The Charging Pains of Every EV

Electric vehicles make a lot of promises: zero emissions, no more stops at the gas station, tax credits, vanity features. But few EV makers are likely to tell prospective buyers about the lack of progress made in battery chargers.

EVs run on batteries and efforts to easily charge those electric wheels have seen some setbacks. dot.LA this week took a look at some of the limitations of charging stations.

On one hand, for example, there's the lack of infrastructure. Building and maintaining a nationwide EV charging grid may seem like a Herculean task, but there are these (and these) efforts in Southern California and elsewhere to keep EVs moving. Not to mention, Los Angeles as a city has a goal of providing 28,000 commercial vehicle charging stations by the end of the decade, and 15,000 by 2025.

And then, there's demand for a faster charge. Today's Tesla's Superchargers have a 120 kWh rate, while Volkswagen-owned Electrify America is building stations with 350 kWh-capable chargers. Want more amp?

EVgo is also among those startups that recognize this growing sector within the EV market. The L.A.-based startup in April opened a 4,000 square-foot Innovation Lab in El Segundo to speed up its development of better charging stations.

Surely we can keep going on what's left to be desired about EV battery technology, but we'll keep an eye on what comes next on that front. While you're at it, take our Twitter poll and tell us what's the biggest EV charging challenge for you.

LA Startups To Watch 👀

🎒 Joshin vets and trains caregivers in taking care of disabled individuals and connects them through its app with specific caregiving jobs. The startup began serving L.A. this week, along with other cities.

🛍 Beauty product retailer Flip wants to be the first "honest" ecommerce platform, where reviews are posted by consumers rather than brands. This week, the L.A.-based company raised $28 million.

#TechLA's Movers & Shakers This Week 📢

💵 The Samaritan app is a kind of Patreon of homeless individuals, allowing donors to provide for individual's specific needs — from new shoes to bus fare. The money is managed by case workers at local nonprofits, including those at L.A.'s Pathways To Your Future.

📊 Some parents fear sending their children back to school as the delta variant spreads. Jorge A. Caballero, a Los Angeles father of a young child, talks with dot.LA about the dashboard he created to give LAUSD parents the data on COVID cases in their children's communities and schools.

LA Tech and Venture Capital News 🗞

🚀 The FAA has launched an investigation into Virgin Galactic's July 11 suborbital flight that carried billionaire Richard Branson into space, raising new questions over the company's guidelines around safety.

👀 Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman this week drew criticism after he published, then deleted, a LinkedIn post saying "no vaccine nor mask will save us" from the pandemic and called on the government to tax processed foods that he said were driving obesity and worsening the spread of COVID.

⬆️ Amazon is on a hiring spree. This week, the multi-billion dollar company said it is adding more than 40,000 corporate and tech jobs across the U.S. — including more than 800 in Los Angeles and 1,400 across Southern California.

Listen Up 🎙

Need a podcast recommendation this weekend? Here are some new pods we have for you:

🎙 AptDeco CEO Reham Fagiri details a harrowing Craigslist experience she says prompted the launch of a new business idea. She tells the Behind Her Empire podcast about her foray into the used furniture market. Listen on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.

🎙 Alejandro Guerrero never thought he'd be a venture capitalist. Now he's a general partner at Act One Ventures, leading pre-seed and seed rounds in ecommerce infrastructure, vertical SaaS and fintech companies. Listen to his journey and his experience authoring a term sheet rider to help diversify L.A. investors on the LA Venture podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

🚨 ​EXTRA EXTRA 🚨

💰 Apple is putting $50 million into an innovation hub at the California State University in Northridge. The company hopes its initiative will attract the largely Latino students from CSUN into STEM studies and careers.

⚖️ Two California ride hailing services, Uber and Lyft, have waded into the controversy behind Texas' new abortion ban by pledging to cover the legal fees of any drivers fined for violating the new law.

💉 Booster shots for COVID are likely to become available in the coming month. Los Angeles County is scrambling to get infrastructure in place to prepare for the onslaught.

📈 Cities across California are calling on Amazon to make changes to the way its sales tax revenue is distributed. A change in ownership of its fulfillment centers earlier this year means tax revenue is now directed to the city where the shipping originated — Amazon's fulfillment center — leaving more than 90% of cities out of tax revenue they see as essential.

🖌 This week, the California Legislature passed the "Silenced No More Act," which would expand workplace harassment protections for employees. If signed into law, the act would protect workers negotiating settlements and severance following claims of workplace harassment.

✈️ A group representing hundreds of airlines have called on countries around the world to adopt a COVID digital passport similar to one used by the E.U. as a way to allow safer air travel.

LA Tech and Venture Capital Events 💬

Check out these upcoming Southern California events in the tech and startup scene in September:

Is your organization having an event? Let us feature it in our newsletter! Email luis@dot.la.

Am I doing this right? 🤔

Throw me feedback, compliments or questions on this newsletter at luis@dot.la or on Twitter at @rungomez.

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