Green Deals: Jackery Power Station 240 now $250, more

Jackery Inc via Amazon offers its Portable Power Station 240 for $249.99 shipped when the on-page coupon code is clipped. This is down $75 from its regular going rate, matches our last mention, and is the best available. Jackery’s 240Wh portable power station is perfect for camping trips, days at the lake, and more. With a 110V/200W AC outlet (with a 400W peak output), this portable power station is perfect for running small household appliances, charging your laptop, and anything else. Plus, there are two 2.4A USB ports, as well as a 12V DC output to power even more. The best part? You can use the sun to recharge this power station if you have a compatible solar panel. Rated 4.7/5 stars and is a #1 best-seller. Plus, you can learn more in our hands-on review.

Head below for more deals on solar lights, Greenworks tools, and of course Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best Tesla accessories.

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Source: Charge Forward

2020 EV Charging Infrastructure Best-in-Test: Rating the DC fast charging user experience

If EVs are to replace fossil-fuel vehicles, they need to be able to make long highway trips, which means that DC fast charging needs to be reliable, convenient, affordable and ubiquitous.

However, as Charged and other media have often reported, we’re still in the early days of public EV charging, and the user experience often leaves much to be desired. Not every charging attempt is successful, and important details, like how to begin a charging session, how much it will cost, and if stations are available or out of order, are often not made clear to users.

How do the various public fast charging networks compare in terms of reliability, convenience, coverage and price? Charged recently partnered with the German firm umlaut to begin to determine the state of the charging network user experience. After performing a comparative study of network providers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland earlier this year, umlaut adapted its testing methodology to the US market, and together we developed the new 2020 EV Charging Infrastructure Best-in-Test award.

Our first comparative analysis of the largest fast charging networks was conducted this year, and each network was rated using several criteria. This study did not include Tesla’s proprietary Supercharger network. (A separate analysis of Tesla’s user experience will be completed in the coming months.)

umlaut’s field team looked at authentication methods, interoperability, prices, transparency, functionality and availability, among other elements. How intuitive and convenient is the charging process? How convenient is parking at the charging location? Is the available charging power suitable for the location?

Terminology
Observers of the US and European charging scenes may find the different terminology confusing at first. In Europe the term charging point is commonly used to refer to what we in the US call a charging station. In Europe, companies that manage charging sites are called charge point operators (CPOs), whereas the companies that manage payments, apps, reservations, etc, are called mobility service providers (MSPs). In the US, these functions are generally handled by a single company, for which we don’t (yet) have a generally-accepted acronym—we usually just call them charging networks.

Report: Apple working with TSMC on self-driving car chips, model is ‘similar to Tesla’

A sketchy report from Digitimes today claims that Apple is trudging ahead with work on its self-driving car project. The report says that Apple is working with TSMC on self-driving chips and exploring the possibility of some sort of factories in the United States.

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Source: Charge Forward

Mercedes-Benz Bank offers insurance especially designed for EVs

Mercedes-Benz Bank, together with insurance partner R+V/KRAVAG, is now offering insurance policies specially adapted to the requirements of commercial EV owners. The full coverage insurance includes cover for inductive charging plates, charging cables and wallboxes, disposal costs for the battery, and replacement value cover for the vehicle and the battery.

The eVan insurance is currently available for the eSprinter and eVito electric vans, and will be available for the automaker’s EQV minivan in the future. It is available to both private and business customers, and can be purchased together with a vehicle, or in combination with a leasing or financing agreement. Customers can purchase the insurance directly from their Mercedes-Benz dealers.

“With the eVan insurance, we are offering our customers a powerful argument to decide on an electric vehicle,” says Benedikt Schell, CEO, Mercedes-Benz Bank. “In this way we are meeting our objective of making customers’ transition to electric mobility easier with tailored products, and pushing the sales of hybrid and electric vehicles from the Daimler Group.”