SENATE APPROVES $1T BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL

csnews.com The measure helps create a competitive market for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that will benefit convenience retailers. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate voted 69-30 Tuesday to approve the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The legislation allocates nearly $550 billion in new spending above what Congress was already planning to allocate for infrastructure over the next eight years. Lawmakers set aside the largest share of the money, $110 billion, for roads and bridges. The infrastructure bill also includes roughly: $73 billion for electric grid and power infrastructure $66 billion for passenger and freight rail $65 billion for broadband investments $55 billion for water systems and infrastructure $50 billion for western water storage $39 billion for public transit $25 billion for airports $21 billion for environmental remediation projects $17 billion for ports and waterways $15 billion for electric vehicles $11 billion for road safety It also includes an alternative…

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7-ELEVEN PARTNERS WITH AUSTRALIA POST TO DOUBLE PARCEL LOCKER LOCATIONS

By Sarah Stowe | 09 Aug 2021executive.franchisebusiness.com.au Australia Post and 7-Eleven Australia are partnering to offer customers access to free all-hours parcel lockers at 7-Eleven stores across the country. The 24/7 service launches across more than 200 7-Eleven stores where the convenience chain’s ParcelMate lockers are already installed. Another 300 7-Eleven stores will receive Australia Post deliveries by the end of 2021. This is in addition to more than 500 existing Australia Post parcel locker locations in the network. The initiative will double the number of Australia Post parcel locker locations to more than 1000 giving customers more options for receiving their online shopping and parcels. The boost to locker locations comes as Australia Post’s latest Inside Australian Online Shopping eCommerce report reveals the volume of parcels increased almost 32 per cent over the 2020-21 financial year. More than 9 million households shop online, the postal service reports. Australia Post’s Nicole Sheffield, executive general manager community and consumer, said the partnership was timely. “Australia Post…

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UBER EATS AND WOOLWORTHS TEAM UP FOR SAME-HOUR ‘TOP-UP’ GROCERY DELIVERY

·         DAVID SWAN TECHNOLOGY EDITOR @swan_legend As lockdowns continue to bite across the nation Woolworths and Uber Eats have teamed to make same-hour grocery delivery a reality, with a dozen Woolworths Metro locations available on the Uber Eats app from next week. The trial will see three stores from Melbourne and nine from Sydney take part in the trial with plans for the program to be rolled out to more than 200 stores in coming months. The stores include Balaclava, Hadfield and Hawthorn in Melbourne. In Sydney the Woolworths Metro stores include Bondi, Maroubra Beach, Padstow, Erskineville, Pyrmont, Randwick, Redfern, Rose Bay and Rozelle. Uber Eats executive Lucas Groeneveld said consumer demand for home delivery has spiked throughout the Covid pandemic, and grown even further during harsh lockdowns. “If you look at some of the numbers, as Sydney went into lockdown we saw a tripling in people searching for grocery…

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5000 FREE FAST ELECTRIC CAR CHARGERS TO BE BUILT AROUND AUSTRALIA

www.smh.com.au Nick O’Malley Australian electric car charging network JOLT plans to install 5000 free fast chargers across capital cities after Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, bought a stake in the company and pledged an initial $100 million towards building the network. Drivers using JOLT chargers would receive 7 kWh – equivalent to about 45 kilometres of driving – for free, and be charged for power drawn after that. JOLT would also make money from advertising sold on its charging stations. All the power it sells will be renewable and the installation of the charging points is expected to begin in Sydney in September. JOLT operates charging stations in Adelaide. Charlie Reid, a managing director of BlackRock’s Global Renewable Power team, said for the world to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the last internal combustion car engine would need to be sold by 2035. He said this would happen…

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Delivery firms beef up operations ahead of Christmas

insideretail.com.au Dean Blake Delivery firms around Australia are investing big into their capabilities heading into the Christmas season, as the country braces for another holiday at home. This weekend, Australia Post is introducing a number of new measures to keep its delivery system coping with levels of demand not seen since last year’s Christmas trade, and is undergoing a “hiring blitz” to boost staff numbers to facilitate weekend deliveries. The business has already launched a number of pop-up facilities to help with processing the massive influx of online orders, driven by beleaguered, locked-down Aussies, and will hire another 3,500 fulfilment staff to man the fort. Likewise, on-demand delivery service DoorDash has partnered with Shippit to offer an ‘instant delivery solution’ to retailers in lockdown ahead of the holiday season. “Given the three-fold increase we saw in same-day deliveries during 2020, it’s clear today’s customers aren’t willing to wait and we…

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The future of the CONNECTED CAR

Quincy Malesovaswww.news.com.au The discovery of radio waves, the telephone and – of course – the internet have fueled the modern world’s ease of connection, knowledge and accessibility. Now cars are undergoing a similar evolution. While cars have only been around a relatively short amount of time, they’ve seen a great transformation in their lifetime – particularly within the last decade. We may not be at the point where self-driving cars are roaming the streets, but that future is not far off. “The market has become very vibrant and is growing day by day,” says Dr Saeed Asadi Bagloee, a research fellow at Melbourne University’s Department of Transport Engineering. Even now, there are vehicles out there that are equipped with technologies that sound like they’re straight out of a science fiction novel. The 2021 Haval Jolion is one of them. Featuring Apple CarPlay and Android Auto that lets you stream all…

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