Visualização normal

Received before yesterdayNegócios

Tesla is planning one of its largest supercharger stations yet — right in the middle of San Francisco

13 de Agosto de 2026, 21:01
A Tesla Supercharger electric vehicle charging station is seen in Indiana, United States, on August 4, 2026. (Photo by Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Tesla is planning a 124-stall Supercharger hub in San Francisco at 75 Waterloo Street.

Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images

  • Tesla is planning a 124-stall Supercharger hub in SF, marking a major urban charging expansion.
  • A charging hub of such scale is rare in a major city due to land costs.
  • The plan also includes a 416-square-foot "micro-amenity" building with vending machines.

Tesla is making a major bet on demand from urban EV owners by planning an unusually large charging hub in San Francisco.

Plans filed with the city show that Tesla is planning for 124 V4 Supercharger stalls at 75 Waterloo Street, a triangular vehicle storage lot near the intersection of Alemany Boulevard and Bayshore Boulevard, alongside Highway 101.

The proposed station would be among Tesla's largest globally, and a rare project of that scale inside a major city. By comparison, Tesla's planned V4 Supercharger at 25 Mason Street, near Market Street in the city, would have 35 stalls. That permit application was submitted on May 18.

Architectural site plan for a Tesla Supercharger layout with parking stalls, equipment labels, streets, and title block.
Tesla's 124-stall Supercharger hub plan, as seen in the company's permit application to the city of San Francisco.

Official Tesla Filings

Tesla's biggest charging hubs are typically built along heavily traveled interstate corridors, where land is cheaper and demand surges during road-trip season. The hub sits at the crucial location where the 101 meets Interstate 280, which leads to the Peninsula, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco International Airport. It's also not far from Bernal Heights and the Bayview, which have significant residential populations.

Some of Tesla's largest charging locations include a 200-stall station in Yeehaw Junction, Florida, and a 164-stall station in Kern County, California. While the latter became fully operational in November 2025, the largest hub in Florida has yet to open.

Based on maps submitted to the city, the 124 stalls would use a conventional parking configuration rather than the pull-through stalls Tesla has introduced at some newer locations.

Architectural sheet showing four building elevations and a floor plan with annotated materials, canopy, doors, and lighting.
The plans include a roughly 416-square-foot "micro-amenity" building.

Official Tesla Filings

The plans indicate the station would operate around the clock and include a roughly 416-square-foot "micro-amenity" building. Sketches show that the building contains two gender-neutral, accessible restrooms with diaper-changing stations, water fountains, and vending machines, as well as space for storage, cleaning equipment, and the site's security and IT systems. The vending area would offer coffee, hot drinks, and snacks.

The plans do not appear to include solar canopies or Tesla Megapack batteries, features used at some of the company's other large charging hubs. Solar canopies are typically used to lower peak-demand costs and keep chargers operating during some outages.

The latest version of the application was submitted on July 29, but the project still needs to go through the city's permitting process. No construction or opening date has been announced.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Sony and Honda scrapped their next EV before launch. You can still drive it on PlayStation.

25 de Março de 2026, 14:48
The interior of the Afeela, the tech-heavy car that was part of the joint venture with Honda and Sony.
Honda and Sony canceled two Afeela products before they reached production.

Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images

  • Honda and Sony axed the Afeela, a tech-heavy electric sedan that was slated for sale in 2026.
  • The decision leaves Sony Honda Mobility, their joint venture company, in limbo.
  • Analysts say they aren't surprised by the cancellation — but were surprised by how late it came.

The Afeela is dead.

The car — a PlayStation-linked EV developed through Honda's joint venture with Sony — had been positioned as a tech-forward flagship, featuring multiple screens (including on the hood), autonomous driving capabilities, and even a spot to hold a PS5 controller.

Plans to build the $90,000 electric sedan and a future SUV sibling were scrapped on Wednesday.

It's the latest shift in Honda's approach to building EVs in America. Earlier this month, the automaker said it would take a $15.7 billion write-down while canceling several coming EVs, including the Honda 0 Saloon, Honda 0 SUV, and Acura RSX. Honda had already exited a separate EV partnership with General Motors in 2023 and discontinued the Acura ZDX last year.

The decisions leave Honda with one EV in the US market: the Prologue.

Afeela's cancellation stands apart.

A Sony Honda Mobility Afeela on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2026.
SHM showcased the Afeela at CES this year.

Bloomberg/Getty Images

Honda and Sony formed an entirely separate company, Sony Honda Mobility, to develop the car. SHM told Business Insider on Wednesday it's continuing "to discuss the path forward with its parent companies on the future of SHM."

The model's cancellation didn't shock industry analysts.

"This aligns with Honda rethinking its EV plans, especially in the US market," Seth Goldstein, a senior equity strategist and EV industry specialist at Morningstar, told Business Insider.

He said Honda is likely shifting toward a more hybrid-heavy lineup while reassessing how to build profitable EVs without relying on government incentives.

While the cancellation itself wasn't surprising, the timing was.

Sony Honda Mobility recently showcased Afeela at CES, heavily promoted it on social media, and added the vehicle to the PlayStation car racing game Gran Turismo 7 in a 2025 update. Moderators for the r/GranTurismo7 subreddit confirmed to Business Insider that the car is still available to drive in the game.

SHM had said it expected to launch the physical car in California by the end of the year.

شيفروليه تكشف عن سيارتين اختباريتين من كورفيت بقوة هائلة تصل إلى 2000 حصان، ويمكنك تجربتهما الآن داخل لعبة Gran Turismo 7 مع التحديث المجاني 1.62
التحديث لا يقتصر على ذلك فقط، بل يضيف أيضًا:
•سيارة AFEELA 1 المتطورة تقنيًا، موديل 2026.
•رينو أفانتايم النادرة، موديل 2002#GT7 pic.twitter.com/MGrXqQq30T

— GTWorld🇸🇦 (@granturismoSA) August 27, 2025

Pulling the plug on a vehicle so close to launch is "definitely not the industry norm," Adam Bernard, a former director of competitive intelligence at General Motors, told Business Insider.

"A last-minute pull is very unusual," he said.

More broadly, Honda's shift highlights a growing divide in how automakers are approaching the US EV market.

Toyota — long seen as a laggard in fully electric vehicles — has recently accelerated its EV plans, underscoring how differently the longtime rivals are navigating the transition.

Goldstein said Toyota's experience with hybrid systems and battery development may make it easier to adapt its lineup, while Honda now faces a more fundamental reset.

The Afeela's customizable "Media Bar" on its hood. It shows a blue screen with white lettering saying "Happy Birthday Carol!"
The Afeela had a bevy of screens, including on the hood. The front-facing "Media Bar" could be customized with messages.

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Still, analysts don't see this as the end of Honda's EV ambitions altogether.

"My guess is that they may revisit their plans and perhaps produce something lower in cost toward the end of the decade," Sam Abuelsamid, an auto industry analyst at Telemetry, told Business Insider.

He added that while Afeela was slated for production in Ohio, Honda is likely to repurpose that capacity for other vehicles rather than leave it idle.

What remains unclear is where Sony Honda Mobility fits into Honda's next phase. A Honda spokesperson said the company had "no insight into the announcement," referring questions to the joint venture.

"This decision follows discussions between our parent companies, after taking into account the significant impact of Honda's EV strategy change," SHM told Business Insider.

Work at Honda or SHM? We want to hear from you. Contact Ben Shimkus at bshimkus@insider.com or Signal at bshimkus.41. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I put EV chargers in my company's parking lot. With gas prices soaring, employees appreciate them even more.

A man in a parking lot holds an electric vehicle charging plug.
Hanko Kiessner put EV chargers in his company's parking lot.

Hansi Kiessner

  • Packsize founder Hanko Kiessner became a proponent of electric vehicles after developing asthma.
  • He installed chargers in his company's parking lot several years ago to help reduce air pollution.
  • Kiessner says they're a low-cost perk that can help attract and retain talent, especially when gas prices soar.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hanko Kiessner, founder and vice chairman of Packsize, a Salt Lake City-based packaging company. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

We just had a spike in gas prices, and everyone is complaining. I see an affordable solution for employers — one that could also grow worker loyalty: adding EV charging stations to their parking lots.

This is something I discovered after moving in 2002 from Germany, where I grew up, to Salt Lake City and starting Packsize. I didn't know about the air pollution problem here, and after a few years. I developed asthma.

I'd never had this problem before. I'm very active. I run marathons. So I did research to find out what was causing my asthma and concluded that air pollution was to blame. I also learned that air pollution largely comes from vehicles and can cause inflammation in the lungs, which can lead to cancer.

Around this time, electric cars were becoming popular. I learned so much about this disruptive technology that I started a nonprofit called Leaders for Clean Air with several other local entrepreneurs. Our mission is to raise money to buy EV charging stations and have them installed in as many places as possible. We see this as a business matter. We need to attract talent from other markets to grow, and air pollution hinders that.

I also wanted to motivate more people than just me to drive an electric car, so I asked my employees: What prevents you from buying one? And the answer was that charging stations are not ubiquitous. One of the biggest fears for people with EVs is driving to work and not finding a plug. That is scary because now you might not be able to make it home.

We initially set up just three charging stations at our Utah headquarters, where we have about 100 employees. Then all of a sudden, people got EVs, so we added more. Today, we have 53 stations and are close to a 30% EV adoption rate among staff, which means there are some extra plugs for visitors and employees at neighboring businesses. We learned that the infrastructure has to come first. Most employees switched after the charging stations were installed.

These stations are probably one of the cheapest benefits an employer can offer their staff. The cost of electricity at a corporate rate is low — for us, it's about $3 a day per charging station. In today's post-COVID world, it's also a way to get people back to the office.

Here's the really cool thing: I'm now attracting employees who drive EVs, and they're very desirable. They typically care about the environment and understand that EV driving is cheaper than gasoline driving. They also tend to be tech-savvy.

Now that gas prices are so high, more people may consider buying EVs. Oil supply chains are fragile, and we have an abundance of cheap electricity. For employers, helping workers make that switch can be as simple as putting charging stations in their parking lots.

Read the original article on Business Insider

❌