Tesla is in a bit of a free fall.

Even before CEO Elon Musk’s explicit embrace of right-wing politics, signs were emerging that the EV manufacturer’s aging lineup was struggling to compete with rivals like China’s BYD and the slew of new electric models from other brands.

EV demand has slowed, Tesla has faced repeated issues with its Cybertruck, and its shares are down approximately 30% this year amid backlash over Musk’s role overseeing cuts to the federal government. There are widespread reports of Tesla owners offloading their vehicles to avoid association with the brand. Tesla has become the target of a global protest movement.

One area where Tesla has remained somewhat untouchable is in EV charging; its Supercharger network has long been considered the gold standard for public EV charging in the US.

A new Escalent report suggests that competing charge point operators might have opportunities to make up lost ground by improving the charging experience for users––addressing a persistent pain point and boosting their standing against Tesla in the process.

“Tesla is kind of the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” K.C. Boyce, a VP in the Automotive & Mobility and Energy industry practices at Escalent, told Tech Brew.

Keep reading here.—JG

It’s no secret that the East River is heavily polluted. Sewage runoff is dumped into the strait approximately 70 times per year, which releases bacteria and makes the East River a body of water New Yorkers probably don’t want to swim in.

However, the East River’s carbon-intensive waters are perfect for carbon capture. Vycarb, a startup that accelerates the water’s natural ability to sequester carbon dioxide and measures the carbon cycle, has taken advantage of the strait’s environment. The company was founded in 2022 by climate scientist and chemist Garrett Boudinot, whose earlier research focused on measuring carbon removal.

The East River pilot project operates out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and is Vycarb’s third pilot. The startup has also tested out its method off Governor’s Island and East Hampton, New York, and its mechanics are growing with each iteration: Vycarb’s Governor’s Island equipment is a few feet tall, while its current iteration is a shipping container topped with solar panels that power its operations.

The Vycarb method: While the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide, coastal waters such as the East River actually emit carbon, too. That’s because some of the organic matter that enters the water from sewage and other runoff becomes carbon dioxide. Thus, the water ends up having more carbon dioxide in it than the surrounding atmosphere, so it releases carbon into the air to reach an equilibrium. Vycarb “targets” the excess carbon in the water and converts it into HCO3, a stable molecule that won’t degrade in water for 10,000 years at minimum.

That transformation happens inside Vycarb’s reactor, a long black tube that sits in the water of the East River and connects to the shipping container.

Keep reading here.—TC

Chances are your workplace at least dabbles in generative AI—though it’s likely not a big moneymaker yet.

Nearly three-quarters (71%) of business leaders say their companies are regularly tapping the technology for at least one business function, in a new McKinsey report based on a survey from last July. That’s up from the 65% who said so earlier in 2024.

The consultancy’s state of AI report—based on a survey of nearly 1,500 people at companies of all sizes and industries around the world—paints a picture of steadily growing generative AI adoption with modest financial gains, but no huge windfalls yet.

Four in five of these companies aren’t seeing tangible bottom-line impact on their business as a whole, McKinsey’s survey found. But some individual departments are starting to clock slight revenue increases and cost reductions.

Show me the money: Strategy and corporate finance, supply chain, marketing and sales, service operations, and software engineering were among the top areas where companies are both saving money and boosting revenue. The survey also mentioned HR, legal and compliance, and IT as units where generative AI was a cost-cutter but not a revenue driver.

Keep reading here.—PK