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Fast chargers are expanding quickly, but American EV drivers still fear running out of juice

Fast chargers are expanding quickly, but American EV drivers still fear running out of juice

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By M.K. WILDEMAN

KENT, Conn. (AP) — For most Americans, there’s less reason than ever to worry about finding chargers to fuel up an electric vehicle. But charging worries remain a top hesitation for potential buyers, second only to sticker shock.

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Those concerns linger even as fast chargers multiply. More than 12,000 have been added within a mile of U.S. highways and interstates just this year, an Associated Press analysis of data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows. That’s about a fifth of quick-charging ports now in operation.

Yet a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago finds about 4 in 10 of U.S. adults still point to range and charging time as “major” reasons they wouldn’t buy an EV. That’s significant considering only about 2 in 10 Americans say they would be “extremely” or “very” likely to make a new or used electric vehicle their next car purchase. read more

Amazon carries Wall Street to the finish of another winning week and month

Amazon carries Wall Street to the finish of another winning week and month

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By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon led the U.S. stock market on Friday to the finish of another winning week and month.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and pulled closer to its all-time high set on Tuesday. It closed out a third straight winning week and a sixth straight winning month, its longest monthly winning streak since 2021.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 40 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6%.

Amazon led the way and jumped 9.6%. The retail giant was by far the strongest force lifting the market after reporting profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. CEO Andy Jassy said growth for its booming cloud-computing business has accelerated to a pace it hasn’t seen since 2022.

Amazon’s massive size of roughly $2.4 trillion means its stock movements carry more weight on the S&P 500 than almost any other company’s. Without it, the S&P 500 would have been down for the day.

Another highly influential stock, Apple, had less of an effect on the market even though it’s bigger than Amazon. The iPhone maker, which is worth more than $4 trillion, swung between modest gains and losses through the day before finishing with a dip of 0.4%. read more

Restaurant surcharges are changing the math for credit card rewards

Restaurant surcharges are changing the math for credit card rewards

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A few weeks ago, I was about to pay the HVAC technician who had repaired my home’s heat pump. Out of habit, I pulled a credit card from my wallet — I figured I’d earn rewards on this pricey transaction — but then the tech warned me that his company assesses a 3% surcharge on credit card payments. Thankful for the heads-up, I wrote him a check instead.

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Credit card surcharges aren’t new, but they’re becoming more common. According to J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study, “34% of merchants are adding surcharges for customer purchases made using credit cards.” Compare that number to just a year before, when 20% of merchants reported assessing surcharges, per a 2024 State of the Industry Report from CMSPI, a payments consultancy firm. read more

Instacart, DoorDash, Gopuff among companies offering discounts to SNAP recipients

Instacart, DoorDash, Gopuff among companies offering discounts to SNAP recipients

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By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press Business Writer

Instacart said Friday it will offer customers who receive SNAP benefits 50% on their next grocery order to ease strain as the government prepares to cut off food aid payments.

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Instacart said any customer who placed an order in October using a SNAP/EBT card will be eligible for the discount, which will be available even if the government makes the payments as planned on Nov. 1. Instacart said it is also expanding the number of food banks it supports through online food drives from 100 to 300. read more

After NASA pressure, SpaceX promises speedier timeline for Starship moon lander

After NASA pressure, SpaceX promises speedier timeline for Starship moon lander

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After acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy this month called out SpaceX for Starship delays, Elon Musk’s company has come back with an update defending its progress and offering a speedier plan to get astronauts back on the moon as part of the Artemis program.

“Starship continues to simultaneously be the fastest path to returning humans to the surface of the moon and a core enabler of the Artemis program’s goal to establish a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface,” reads a statement published to SpaceX’s website on Thursday.

Duffy said he would open back up a contract that SpaceX had won in 2021 to be the human landing system for the Artemis III mission that looks to return humans to the surface of the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.

“I love SpaceX. It’s an amazing company,” Duffy said. “The problem is they’re behind. They push their timelines out, and we’re in a race against China.”

That mission is the follow-on to Artemis II, which is slated to fly around, but not land on, the moon as early as February next year. Artemis III was on NASA’s roadmap to launch by summer 2027, but Duffy said that timeline has been threated, and he was reopening the contract that could bring in Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin potentially to service that mission instead. read more