Recharge Wrap-up: more than 600K EVs worldwide; Musk sees demons in AI
Tue, Oct 28 2014
EV drivers can now pay for charging at ChargePoint stations with Paypal. Drivers can link Paypal to their ChargePoint account, and can use their ChargePoint app or card at the station. The first time drivers use Paypal at a station that charges a fee, they will be charged a $25 deposit from which the fee will be deducted. Read more in the press release below.
The first NTx Apps Challenge awarded cash to five app development projects, including Juxt and GridLock. Juxt is a mobile app that helps drivers find alternative fuel, parking spots and other points of interest along their routes. GridLock is a traffic light network that monitors traffic patterns and controls lights to optimize traffic flow. Winners get cash, continued mentorship and office spaces. Read more in the press release below.
Renault says it could sell the Eolab at around the same price as its diesel-powered Clio. The Eolab, which debuted as a concept at this year's Paris Motor Show, is said to be capable of up to 235 mpg. While Renault has not announced plans to mass-produce the super-efficient Eolab, the company's chief competitive officer Thierry Bollore said that if it did, it would "not cost more than a Clio DCi 90hp," which starts at about $23,900. Read more at Automotive News Europe.
An author at Teslarati has created his own system to get notifications whenever Tesla adds a new Supercharger to its network. Using a web scraping tool, Rob M. has set his @TeslaLiving Twitter account to tweet the details whenever Tesla updates its Supercharger page, or when Teslarati's Interactive Tesla Supercharger Map gets a new location added. Rob has also created notifications for whenever new versions of Tesla software are added. Read more at Teslarati.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk considers artificial intelligence an "existential threat." In a symposium at MIT, Musk said, "With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon." It's a demon he fears we can't control. See Musk's comments in the video below (beginning at about 1:07:42) and read more at CNN Money.
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$80k in Prizes Awarded to Entrepreneurs and Developers in First NTx Apps Challenge
Innovation competition brings together cities and entrepreneurs to solve growth challenges
North Texas – October 27, 2014 – The inaugural NTx Apps Challenge awarded $80,000 to five teams of web entrepreneurs who created sustainability apps to address four key municipal growth challenges; water conservation, waste and recycling, smart energy, and transportation. The winners of the NTx Apps Challenge are:
· Smart Energy: "Energy Pal" – A mobile app for Android that displays real-time electricity usage to homeowners and allows users to track the electric usage of individual appliances. Developed by Ian Macalinao (Student at University of Texas at Dallas), Brandon Truong (Student at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science), Dylan Macalinao (Student at School for the Talented and Gifted), and Adil Virani (Student at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science).
· Water Conservation: "Sprink.ly" – A web-app and smart sprinkler system that incorporates weather data, neighborhood water usage, and even municipal water restrictions to prevent overwatering of residential lawns. Developed by Michael Erdahl and Urmil Shah, both engineers at Texas Instruments.
· Transportation: "Juxt" – A mobile app for iOS that allows drivers of alternative fuel vehicles to find fueling stations, parking spaces, and other points of interest along their route, and share this information with other app users. Developed by: Gerard Matthew, Priyanka Sharma, and Harish Upadhyayula.
· Waste and Recycling: "Compost Denton" – A municipal composting service that uses a web-app to manage customers, weight tracking of materials composted, route optimization for drivers, and environmental monitoring of compost piles. Created by Andrew Miller and Thomas Wild, Co-Founders of Compost Denton.
· The Internet of Things: "GridLock" – A smart traffic light network that adjusts traffic light schedules to optimizes traffic flow, through real-time monitoring and analysis of traffic conditions. Developed by Zedd Mekhaiel and James Staud.
Each winning submission received the following prize package:
Cash: $10k cash upfront
Follow-on funding: An additional $10k in follow-on funding for continued development and work on the app available to the winners in the Water Conservation, Transportation, and Waste & Recycling category.
Mentorship: Each winning team is paired with mentors from local technology companies Bottle Rocket, Gemalto, or Velocis to help further develop their app and bring it to market.
Office space: Teams are provided with desks at local co-working spaces: The Dallas Entrepreneurship Center (The DEC), IDEAWorks FW, Addiosn Treehouse, Fort Work, and nod
Post-Challenge Showcase: Winning teams get to pitch their creation in a special showcase during the November edition of Dallas New Tech
Launched in late July, the NTx Apps Challenge is a 10-week app development competition designed to generate innovative software-based solutions and companies to make North Texas more livable and sustainable. Through a series of "hackathons" and "data jams," participants worked on their apps collaboratively with representatives from local governments and technology companies, as well as workshops on app development, coding and business skills from local experts.
On October 6th at the Grove, eighteen teams presented their completed projects to the Challenge Judges, who included Garrett Boone (Co-founder of The Container Store), Trey Bowles (Co-founder of the Dallas Entrepreneurship Center), Jorge Varela (Assistant Director at TECH Fort Worth), Carole Davis (Water Conservation Division Manager for Dallas Water Utilities), Laurent Assaf (Director of Business Development, Gemalto), and others.
"More than just a competition, NTx Apps is a unique public-private partnership that brings together the best minds in technology, entrepreneurship, and municipal government to solve some critical issues our region is facing," said Robert Kent, NTx Apps Challenge Co-Founder and Director of Public Policy for the North Texas Commission. "We hope to see more collaborative efforts like this in the future to create innovative solutions for North Texas's toughest challenges."
"The NTX community answered the call to tackle challenges facing our region. I'm pleased to see the both the caliber of talent and the solutions conceived," say Blake Burris, CEO of The Cleanweb Initiative, "It is my hope that winners create companies that become scalable companies ultimately impacting our region - environmentally and economically."
NTx Apps is the first app challenge of this scale in Texas, and is modeled after several successful programs in New York City and San Diego. Major prizes for the Challenge are sponsored by Dallas Water Utilities, Dallas Sanitation Services Department, The City of Denton, Gemalto, Garrett Boone and the North Texas Commission. Additional sponsors the Dallas Entrepreneurship Center ("The DEC"), University of North Texas's Discovery Park, Dialexa, Socrata, Bottle Rocket Apps, AT&T Foundry, and community partners Launch DFW, Dallas New Tech, Techmill Denton, The Grove, IDEA Works FW, the City of Addison, UNT Innovation Greenhouse, Code Collective, Earth People Media, DFW Excellerator and Collide Village.
About the North Texas Commission:
Established in 1971, the North Texas Commission is a regional non-profit consortium of businesses, cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development entities and higher education institutions in the North Texas Region. The North Texas Commission improves the economic vitality, infrastructure and lifestyle of North Texas by marketing the region, promoting collaboration and advocating on critical issues.
About The Cleanweb Initiative:
The Cleanweb Initiative is a member-driven organization composed of developers, entrepreneurs, investors, and enterprises large and small who believe that the growing web of information technologies may be our most powerful - and profitable - tool to improve global sustainability, economic prosperity, and human well-being. Cleanweb activities now span 20 countries. Founding partners of The Cleanweb Initiative include Facebook, The American Clean Skies Foundation, Sidecar and the Spring Forward Foundation. Learn more at www.cleanweb.co
ChargePoint now accepts PayPal
Campbell, Calif.– ChargePoint is committed to providing the most convenient charging experience and now, electric vehicle (EV) drivers can sign up and pay for ChargePoint with PayPal. PayPal has long supported EVs and has installed 34 ChargePoint ports at their San Jose, California, campus for employees and visitors. By enabling people to pay for a charge using PayPal, we're giving our customers a faster and easier way to pay.
ChargePoint stations are independently owned so businesses and individuals are free to set pricing however they prefer. Some station owners prefer to offer charging for free as an amenity or to attract visitors. Others set a price to cover costs or drive revenue. Over half of the 19,000 charging spots on the ChargePoint network are free. When there is a fee to use a station, drivers can pay with their ChargePoint account by adding their credit card. Now, drivers can also use PayPal to get a charge.
"With PayPal as a payment option, it's even easier for drivers to plug in to a ChargePoint station," said Pasquale Romano, ChargePoint's CEO. "Combining the largest network for EV charging with a leader in digital payments means that more drivers can make the switch to electric."
Both PayPal and ChargePoint are revolutionizing traditional industries so it makes perfect sense to pair the two. When asked for payment information, drivers can choose PayPal and will be directed to PayPal.com to enter their username and password. To start charging, drivers can use the ChargePoint mobile app or wave their ChargePoint card in front of the station's card reader. The first time a driver accesses a station that requires a fee, a $25 deposit will be charged to their account and payment will be deducted from that deposit.
There are over 250,000 EVs on the road today, nearly double from a year ago. This growth is in large part due to the commitment from businesses like PayPal to offer EV charging stations on their campus.
# # #
About ChargePoint
ChargePoint is the largest and most open electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the world, with more than 19,000 charging locations. Ranked #1 by leading independent research firm, Navigant Research, ChargePoint makes advanced hardware and best-in-class cloud based software. ChargePoint's open network is utilized by many leading EV hardware makers and encourages all EV charging manufacturers to join.
ChargePoint's real-time network information including the availability of charging locations throughout the nation is available through the ChargePoint mobile app, online and via the navigation systems in top-selling EVs including the new BMW i3 and the Nissan LEAF. A driver connects to a ChargePoint station every 7 seconds and by initiating over 6.5 million charging sessions, ChargePoint drivers have saved over 5.5 million gallons of gasoline and driven over 126 million gas free miles.
For more information about ChargePoint, visit www.chargepoint.com, www.facebook.com/chargepoint or on Twitter @ChargePointnet.
Innovation competition brings together cities and entrepreneurs to solve growth challenges
North Texas – October 27, 2014 – The inaugural NTx Apps Challenge awarded $80,000 to five teams of web entrepreneurs who created sustainability apps to address four key municipal growth challenges; water conservation, waste and recycling, smart energy, and transportation. The winners of the NTx Apps Challenge are:
· Smart Energy: "Energy Pal" – A mobile app for Android that displays real-time electricity usage to homeowners and allows users to track the electric usage of individual appliances. Developed by Ian Macalinao (Student at University of Texas at Dallas), Brandon Truong (Student at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science), Dylan Macalinao (Student at School for the Talented and Gifted), and Adil Virani (Student at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science).
· Water Conservation: "Sprink.ly" – A web-app and smart sprinkler system that incorporates weather data, neighborhood water usage, and even municipal water restrictions to prevent overwatering of residential lawns. Developed by Michael Erdahl and Urmil Shah, both engineers at Texas Instruments.
· Transportation: "Juxt" – A mobile app for iOS that allows drivers of alternative fuel vehicles to find fueling stations, parking spaces, and other points of interest along their route, and share this information with other app users. Developed by: Gerard Matthew, Priyanka Sharma, and Harish Upadhyayula.
· Waste and Recycling: "Compost Denton" – A municipal composting service that uses a web-app to manage customers, weight tracking of materials composted, route optimization for drivers, and environmental monitoring of compost piles. Created by Andrew Miller and Thomas Wild, Co-Founders of Compost Denton.
· The Internet of Things: "GridLock" – A smart traffic light network that adjusts traffic light schedules to optimizes traffic flow, through real-time monitoring and analysis of traffic conditions. Developed by Zedd Mekhaiel and James Staud.
Each winning submission received the following prize package:
Cash: $10k cash upfront
Follow-on funding: An additional $10k in follow-on funding for continued development and work on the app available to the winners in the Water Conservation, Transportation, and Waste & Recycling category.
Mentorship: Each winning team is paired with mentors from local technology companies Bottle Rocket, Gemalto, or Velocis to help further develop their app and bring it to market.
Office space: Teams are provided with desks at local co-working spaces: The Dallas Entrepreneurship Center (The DEC), IDEAWorks FW, Addiosn Treehouse, Fort Work, and nod
Post-Challenge Showcase: Winning teams get to pitch their creation in a special showcase during the November edition of Dallas New Tech
Launched in late July, the NTx Apps Challenge is a 10-week app development competition designed to generate innovative software-based solutions and companies to make North Texas more livable and sustainable. Through a series of "hackathons" and "data jams," participants worked on their apps collaboratively with representatives from local governments and technology companies, as well as workshops on app development, coding and business skills from local experts.
On October 6th at the Grove, eighteen teams presented their completed projects to the Challenge Judges, who included Garrett Boone (Co-founder of The Container Store), Trey Bowles (Co-founder of the Dallas Entrepreneurship Center), Jorge Varela (Assistant Director at TECH Fort Worth), Carole Davis (Water Conservation Division Manager for Dallas Water Utilities), Laurent Assaf (Director of Business Development, Gemalto), and others.
"More than just a competition, NTx Apps is a unique public-private partnership that brings together the best minds in technology, entrepreneurship, and municipal government to solve some critical issues our region is facing," said Robert Kent, NTx Apps Challenge Co-Founder and Director of Public Policy for the North Texas Commission. "We hope to see more collaborative efforts like this in the future to create innovative solutions for North Texas's toughest challenges."
"The NTX community answered the call to tackle challenges facing our region. I'm pleased to see the both the caliber of talent and the solutions conceived," say Blake Burris, CEO of The Cleanweb Initiative, "It is my hope that winners create companies that become scalable companies ultimately impacting our region - environmentally and economically."
NTx Apps is the first app challenge of this scale in Texas, and is modeled after several successful programs in New York City and San Diego. Major prizes for the Challenge are sponsored by Dallas Water Utilities, Dallas Sanitation Services Department, The City of Denton, Gemalto, Garrett Boone and the North Texas Commission. Additional sponsors the Dallas Entrepreneurship Center ("The DEC"), University of North Texas's Discovery Park, Dialexa, Socrata, Bottle Rocket Apps, AT&T Foundry, and community partners Launch DFW, Dallas New Tech, Techmill Denton, The Grove, IDEA Works FW, the City of Addison, UNT Innovation Greenhouse, Code Collective, Earth People Media, DFW Excellerator and Collide Village.
About the North Texas Commission:
Established in 1971, the North Texas Commission is a regional non-profit consortium of businesses, cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development entities and higher education institutions in the North Texas Region. The North Texas Commission improves the economic vitality, infrastructure and lifestyle of North Texas by marketing the region, promoting collaboration and advocating on critical issues.
About The Cleanweb Initiative:
The Cleanweb Initiative is a member-driven organization composed of developers, entrepreneurs, investors, and enterprises large and small who believe that the growing web of information technologies may be our most powerful - and profitable - tool to improve global sustainability, economic prosperity, and human well-being. Cleanweb activities now span 20 countries. Founding partners of The Cleanweb Initiative include Facebook, The American Clean Skies Foundation, Sidecar and the Spring Forward Foundation. Learn more at www.cleanweb.co
ChargePoint now accepts PayPal
Campbell, Calif.– ChargePoint is committed to providing the most convenient charging experience and now, electric vehicle (EV) drivers can sign up and pay for ChargePoint with PayPal. PayPal has long supported EVs and has installed 34 ChargePoint ports at their San Jose, California, campus for employees and visitors. By enabling people to pay for a charge using PayPal, we're giving our customers a faster and easier way to pay.
ChargePoint stations are independently owned so businesses and individuals are free to set pricing however they prefer. Some station owners prefer to offer charging for free as an amenity or to attract visitors. Others set a price to cover costs or drive revenue. Over half of the 19,000 charging spots on the ChargePoint network are free. When there is a fee to use a station, drivers can pay with their ChargePoint account by adding their credit card. Now, drivers can also use PayPal to get a charge.
"With PayPal as a payment option, it's even easier for drivers to plug in to a ChargePoint station," said Pasquale Romano, ChargePoint's CEO. "Combining the largest network for EV charging with a leader in digital payments means that more drivers can make the switch to electric."
Both PayPal and ChargePoint are revolutionizing traditional industries so it makes perfect sense to pair the two. When asked for payment information, drivers can choose PayPal and will be directed to PayPal.com to enter their username and password. To start charging, drivers can use the ChargePoint mobile app or wave their ChargePoint card in front of the station's card reader. The first time a driver accesses a station that requires a fee, a $25 deposit will be charged to their account and payment will be deducted from that deposit.
There are over 250,000 EVs on the road today, nearly double from a year ago. This growth is in large part due to the commitment from businesses like PayPal to offer EV charging stations on their campus.
# # #
About ChargePoint
ChargePoint is the largest and most open electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the world, with more than 19,000 charging locations. Ranked #1 by leading independent research firm, Navigant Research, ChargePoint makes advanced hardware and best-in-class cloud based software. ChargePoint's open network is utilized by many leading EV hardware makers and encourages all EV charging manufacturers to join.
ChargePoint's real-time network information including the availability of charging locations throughout the nation is available through the ChargePoint mobile app, online and via the navigation systems in top-selling EVs including the new BMW i3 and the Nissan LEAF. A driver connects to a ChargePoint station every 7 seconds and by initiating over 6.5 million charging sessions, ChargePoint drivers have saved over 5.5 million gallons of gasoline and driven over 126 million gas free miles.
For more information about ChargePoint, visit www.chargepoint.com, www.facebook.com/chargepoint or on Twitter @ChargePointnet.
Featured Gallery Renault Eolab
View 17 Photos
Related Gallery Tesla Model S: Quick Spin
View 33 Photos
- News Source: Hybrid Cars, Green Car Congress, NTx Apps Challenge, Automotive News Europe, Teslarati, CNN Money
- Image Credit: Renault
- Auto News
- Green
- Tesla
- Renault
- Fuel Efficiency
- Technology
- Emerging Technologies
- Electric
- recharge wrapup
By John Beltz Snyder
See also: Tesla lowers Model S lease price, adds 3-month 'happiness guarantee', Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla considers Model III SUV and wagon, Ford tears Tesla apart, Toyota sells off Tesla shares, too.