Elon Musk IS Funny After All, Generative AI at Work, DCFC is Expensive

In partnership with

In This Issue

• Domo Arigato, Mr. ChatGPT-oto

  • But Not That Artificial Intelligence

• DCFC Pricing Is Ridiculous

• As It Turns Out, Elon Musk IS Actually Funny

• From Around the Internet

• More Goodies

Domo Arigato, Mr. ChatGPT-oto

It seems like everywhere you look, everyone is talking about generative AI. It’s lauded as being the future of everything, and also the complete destruction of everything. But can you, you know, use it in your day-today?

I completely agree that there are certain situations where you wouldn’t want to use something like ChatGPT. I also know many people who are prohibited from using the large language model at work.

I can also say, with certainty, that it’s getting pretty good. So how can you use it?

Some people are using to directly create content. For certain situations, I can understand why someone would do that, especially if they’re trying to fill out large portions of text that’s pretty generic. And while that’s tempting, it’s not how you can really take advantage of it.

The real value isn’t in actually creating content – which in most cases should still be left to humans – but rather in helping in your day-to-day. That’s where the real power is.

For YouTube, I’m a member of vidIQ, and they have an AI service that helps you figure out how your YouTube channel is doing, and where you can improve. If you’re not sure where to start on your next video, it’ll give you some suggestions. It’ll even create an outline for you and a sample script.

Now, the sample scripts aren’t really the greatest, but the other functionality is nice and can help you get over writer’s block.

It’ll also look at your title and thumbnail and give you a grade. Here’s an example from a video that just went live on the EV Pulse YouTube channel.

Maybe you get a long news release from a certain German automotive manufacturer? You can give ChatGPT a prompt to find the stuff most important to you, feed it the news release, and it’ll summarize what you care about.

If you only cover EVs, for example, you don’t care about the gasoline-version of a certain car. But you’ll want the bits out of there for electrification, and it can summarize what you missed or what you need to know.

But Not That Artificial Intelligence

It’s also important to mention that not all AI is the same. When consumers talk about AI, they typically are referring to ChatGPT, Gemini, or DALL-E. But in the workplace you might be using something completely different.

In one of the EV Pulse Careers of the Futures videos that we shot with Magna, Craig talks about the AI used in manufacturing and it’s nothing at all like you’re using on your home computer.

Have you used the generative AI, large language model system at your place of work? Leave a comment at the bottom to let me know what you’re using it for if you are.

DCFC Pricing Is Ridiculous

Public EV charging has a long way to go in this country, and while there are groups out there speeding up the process – including the new Ionna coalition – there are some issues that we still haven’t really addressed.

Permitting and cost aside, the best public DCFC stations from my experience are the new GM Energy / Flying J / EVgo stations. The one closest to my house has a dedicated section of the parking lot, it has a canopy to keep you out of the weather, it has new hardware capable of delivering 350 kW of juice, and there are trash cans and other petrol station amenities.

But there’s a BIG problem with these stations. You see, the pricing isn’t set by EVgo or by General Motors. No, the station pricing is set by Flying J. Even though GM provided money for the installation of these stations.

So what does that mean? That means I’ve paid up to $0.65 per kWh at my closest station. That’s literal highway robbery. That’s transportation loan sharking.

For some perspective, let’s do some maths. Let’s assuming the price of regular petrol is $3.00 per gallon at this station (and it is actually a tad less than that at the time of writing), and a Ford Raptor gets 16 miles per gallon (according to the EPA website) and takes 6.2 gallons of fuel to drive 100 miles. That means that it costs $18.60 to drive 100 miles.

The Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 Plus SUV – the long-range, efficient, rear-drive model – requires 36 kWh of electricity to drive 100 miles. That means, at the before-mentioned $0.65 per kWh, it would cost you $23.40 to drive the same 100 miles. It’s $4.80 CHEAPER to drive the turbocharged V-6 pre-runner.

At the same time that regular unleaded was $3.00 per gallon, that makes premium unleaded at the same station $4.00 per gallon. It takes a Lamborghini Revuelto 8.3 gallons of the high test to go 100 miles, at a total cost of $33.20. Yes, that’s more expensive than the long-range EQE SUV, but a Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum costs $33.15 to drive the same distance. That means it’s only $0.05 more to drive a plug-in hybrid V-12 Lamborghini supercar. That’s kind of messed up, right?

I think it’s safe to assume that public charging would be more expensive than charging at home. Not only do I think people logically assume that, but I think they expect and understand that.

Companies like Electrify America even have monthly-access plans that reduce the per-kWh cost of charging. From my experience, if you DCFC just once a month it pays for the monthly subscription cost. That $4 per month plan around here lowers the kWh cost to $0.45. Which is still not amazing, but WAY cheaper than the EVgo station up the street that happens to be on a Flying J property.

Flying J is likely buying its electricity in bulk at a commercial rate that is significantly lower than what they’re charging the end user for. But why? Are they trying to recoup their cost of the station as quickly as humanly possible? But they also didn’t pay for the entire install themselves, and I think with GM branding all over it some people might assume that it’s GM trying to rip them off.

Most people should be charging either at home or at work, but sometimes you have to fast charge. For EV adoption to really take off, it can’t be more expensive to drive an EV than a gas-powered car, when the EV is already more expensive to purchase to begin with. GM and EVgo should exert some pressure on Flying J to make the pricing a tad bit more reasonable, because the current pricing structure is ridiculous – no matter how nice the station is.

As It Turns Out, Elon Musk IS Actually Funny

Recently, Elon Musk took to his social media platform to “make a joke” about why nobody has tried to assassinate Donald Trump’s opponent while there’ve been at least two attempts on Trump.

Following that tweet, he received a decent amount of criticism and then deleted the tweet. Because he couldn’t let it go, he had to tweet through it by saying his peer group thought it was funny.

And then acknowledged that, you know what, maybe the joke wasn’t funny. Of course, any comedian knows that if you have to explain the joke, the joke isn’t funny.

Has Elon Musk ever been funny? The verdict is out. I suppose that having a Fart Mode in his electric cars is somewhat amusing – at least to some Tesla fans. Joking about impregnating Taylor Swift without her consent is most certainly not funny.

But as it turns out, it might be a hilarious ending after all. Dana Hull at Bloomberg is reporting that the United States Secret Service is very interested in Elon’s tweets.

Even if a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request can’t be fulfilled due to an ongoing investigation, which is what triggered the Bloomberg post, Hull reminds us to not get our collective hopes up.

However, it would be nice for the richest man in the world to realize that there are some consequences to his actions. Especially when he has security clearance and could very well be a national security risk.

From Around the Internet

• Trump’s EV Plans – If Donald Trump wins in the fall, will he gut the government’s EV plans? Bengt Halvorson over at Green Car Reports breaks down everything the former president has said, what he’ll likely do if elected, and provides perspective on the current state of the industry.

• Apple Wallet ID in California — California is the latest state to allow adding your’ve driver’s license or state I.D. to your Apple Wallet. I recently used my Ohio one at DTW flawlessly, but it should go without saying you shouldn’t hand your unlocked phone to anyone.

More Goodies

💻 If you enjoyed reading this – and I hope you did – would you consider passing it along to a friend? The more subscribers I have, the more in-depth reporting and analysis I can bring you.

☕️ If you found this useful, consider buying me a coffee! I’m an independent journalist and every dollar received directly funds this project.

🗞️ Have a news tip you want to send? Learn more about sending news tips and secure communications with me by clicking right here.

📧 If you have a news release you want to send, have general feedback, or want to tell me how you really feel about me, you can email directly at [email protected].