In partnership with
Table of Contents
⚡ This Week’s Big Charge
💡 How It’s Electric Figured Out Big-City EV Charging
Even if new EV sales cool off in America without tax credits, over 1 million EVs were sold in the U.S. through September alone. Used EV sales continue to surge. There are now about 6.5 million EVs registered on U.S. roads.
All of those people need places to charge, and all of them will for a long time—and in many cases, without a home garage.
One of the more interesting companies tackling this problem is based in New York City, a place with (unfortunately for all involved) a lot of cars, not a lot of parking, and tons of rideshare- and for-hire cars.
That company is It’s Electric, and their solution is a discreet, sleek-looking, silver charging post installed curbside. When you sign up, you get a portable plug to keep in your car, something that’s already common in Europe. It’s a far more elegant solution than the bulky frames and wires you see elsewhere.
But It’s Electric’s big innovation isn’t just the charger design: it’s where the electricity comes from. And that’s why it seems to be catching on fast as perhaps America’s next great urban charging solution.
“We really feel like we've cracked the code, and a lot of cities are agreeing,” Tiya Gordon, the company’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, told me recently.
Looking for unbiased, fact-based news? Join 1440 today.
Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.
🛻 It’s Electric’s Big News:
This week, the company announced it’s been selected by Los Angeles to build 90 new public curbside charging ports over the next 12 months.
The first 15 chargers will open in November and December, across Koreatown. They replace the shuttered BlueLA carshare parking spots.
As with everything It’s Electric does, these are slower, Level 2 EV chargers. They’re ideal for longer parking, neighborhoods and overnight charging, just as homeowners enjoy.
That brings It’s Electric’s presence to five cities: Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Alameda, and now LA. More announcements are coming.
LA drivers who would like to receive their cable can join their waitlist—same with property owners. (More on that in a second.)
“We have permission to operate in nine different cities right now, and that's a really big number for us,” Gordon said.
Here’s how they did it.
🚗 How The Program Works:
The problem with curbside charging installation is this: how do you do it everywhere, when the permitting process and other regulations vary from city to city, and utility to utility?
“When you're doing a direct utility connection and you're making new interconnects, that's what slows everything down,” Gordon said. But that’s not what It’s Electric does.
Instead, it works off the nearby building itself—the property owner’s curb area and electrical panel. The charger then gets installed at no cost to the property owner.
An EV driver who signs up to get a plug then charges using that property’s spare electrical supply. Property owners get passive income, and EV drivers get many more places to charge, paying only for the electricity they use.
This cuts the average permitting time from 18-24 months down to four or five, Gordon said. And they’re getting faster the more they do it.
Plus, the charger looks great: no screens, no credit card interface, just a plug.
The success builds on itself, Gordon said. “A lot of cities want to know how well things are working before they commit,” she said. “But It’s Electric is repairing a badly damaged industry.”
📊 More Context:
Gordon is right: despite good intentions, the first wave of public EV charging was rough. “Convenience, reliability, affordability, accessibility, all of these things,” were barriers, she said.
Now, nearly every study we’ve seen shows EV charging is getting better: more reliable, more abundant and faster.
The continued growth of the charging space is now a bright spot in an uncertain near-term period for EVs. Led by Tesla, ChargePoint and EVgo, America this year will get more than twice as many fast-charging ports as were added in 2022.
And based on the most recent data available, public Level 2 chargers are being added even more quickly.
➡ Noteworthy:
“What we get in Boston is we get stories of conversion,” Gordon said. “We get people who are writing to us and saying, ‘I've been wanting an EV for years. I've had nowhere to charge it.” And after seeing these chargers, they do it.
Their utilization rate in San Francisco is high: 44% of the chargers there are being used 24 hours a day, she said.
🧠 My Take:
EV charging in America tends to over-index on DC fast-charging, which is certainly necessary for a lot of things, like road trips.
But Level 2 charging, I’d argue, is even more important. It’s cheaper to install, less energy-intensive, and easier to put in lots of different places.
Cars that are parked all the time may as well be charging—or sending energy back into the grid.
It’s Electric says most drivers pay $0.25–$0.43 per kWh, or “about $13 for an overnight charge.”
Gordon’s also right about EV charger growth being necessary for today’s drivers and future ones: “I don't appreciate the sentiment that the electric car will be killed a second time,” she said.
Whoever figures out urban EV charging like this—or, even better, at apartment buildings—will have a strong, long-term business on their hands.
📰 More Stories That Matter
Used EVs are still white-hot on the sales lots, with “the fastest turnover of any powertrain.” Buyers are taking advantage of major depreciation. [Edmunds]
Amid a wider brain drain, Tesla lost both the executives in charge of its Cybetruck and Model Y programs this week. [Reuters]
Subaru is shifting resources to hybrids and away from EVs, which it was behind on anyway. More electric investments may be reviewed. [Nikkei Asia]
The United Kingdom seems poised to charge EV drivers a “pay per mile” road tax to make up for fuel duty revenue. Nobody seems happy about it. [Financial Times]
Perhaps America is losing the EV and battery race because we framed it as an environmental issue—not one tied to our global technological power. [The Hill]
📡 On My Radar
I did not have this on my Bingo card: Tesla is reportedly looking to add Apple CarPlay to its EVs as sales sink. Will that move the needle at all? [Bloomberg]
Rivian's $6.8 billion joint venture with the Volkswagen Group could go much deeper than those companies, InsideEVs’ Tim Levin reports: they aim to sell computing and hardware platforms to the rest of he auto industry. [InsideEVs]
Toyota finally gets into the electric truck game with the new Hilux EV. It’s not for the U.S., and range is limited; how well will it do in the portfolio? [Motor1]
Toyota’s also made a lot of solid-state battery promises. But can it really make one good for 40 years, that can outlast the car itself [InsideEVs]
Nissan’s big strategy for the U.S. starting in 2026: a pivot to hybrids. Can this help rebound sales at a precarious time? [Automotive News]
🔌 Charging News
This is great: Google Maps can now tell you if a Tesla Supercharger is available. [Android Authority]
From world-renowned charging expert Tom Moloughney comes the list of the best home EV chargers for 2025. [InsideEVs]
The CEO of Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging North America, Andrew Cornelia, is stepping down at the end of the year. [LinkedIn]
ChargePoint is rolling out a huge AI update to its EV charger software, which should streamline data and operations. [Electrek]
This innovative thermal management device, called the Dectravalve, could slash charging time from 30 minutes to roughly 10. [InsideEVs]
🔋 Battery Industry News
Toyota opened its $13.9 billion EV and hybrid battery plant in North Carolina this week. Called a “pivotal moment” for the company, it is slated to create up to 5,100 new American jobs. [CNBC]
Meanwhile, Toyota postponed plans to build an EV battery plant in Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture for the second time. [Nikkei Asia]
This is, in part, because the world faces an EV battery factory oversupply problem. The capacity to build EV batteries far outstrips demand globally. [InsideEVs]
General Motors is telling its supplier companies: break up with China, and do it by 2027. [Reuters]
China’s battery giants are pushing back on the solid-state battery hype, saying mass production won’t really start until the 2030s—something I’ve heard from Toyota and others as well. [CarNewsChina]
🤖 Autonomy News
The big one: Waymo rides will now include highway trips in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with more to come. Previously, the autonomous taxis were limited to in-town rides. [The Verge]
Einride, the Swedish provider of electric and self-driving trucks, will go public next year in a SPAC deal worth $1.8 billion. SPAC deals seldom end well, so I’ll be curious how this one does. [WSJ]
The unspoken war in the autonomy race: it’s China vs. everybody else, with the former having as much of a cost advantage as it does with EVs and software. [The Guardian.]
That’s also true for passenger cars. Chinese firm Hesai Technologies’ sales of LIDAR units are way up, and it is rapidly becoming a standard feature on cars there. [Optics.org]
Japan wants to put 10,000 driverless buses, taxis, trucks and other vehicles on the road by 2030. [Nikkei Asia]
Ford is expanding its BlueCruise highway hands-free driving system in Europe, including to four more plug-in hybrid vehicles. [Ford Newsroom]
🧠 AI News
European charging giant Monta is turning to AI to manage its vast charging networks. [Mobility Portal]
It’s not just batteries: Mercedes-Benz is in talks with Samsung and LG for next-generation AI in vehicles. [Korea JoonAng Daily]
After its big robot showcase, Xpeng has investors in Hong Kong very excited about the future. [NASDAQ]
📤 Spread the Charge
If this newsletter helped you make sense of what matters in e-mobility, forward it to a friend or coworker. And tell them to subscribe here.
❓ How’s My Driving?
All feedback is welcome. Send me your thoughts here.
💡 Did You Know?
Public EV charging was born in New York City. The "Electrant," an electric hydrant, was developed by General Electric as a way to offer public charging for early EVs.
Until next time,
—Patrick George