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How does this compare to the US? It sounds like there's no way to pay cash, or just use a credit card and go at any of these stations. Using an app, and requiri

How does this compare to the US? It sounds like there's no way to pay cash, or just use a credit card and go at any of these stations. Using an app, and requiring and account to do this is idiotic and will just end up leaving you stranded like this guy. If a gas station required me to have an account and app to gas up my car, I would tell them to screw off and never go there again.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
Disclaimer: We own several Teslas, US-specific. With Tesla Superchargers, it's automatic. You pull up, you plug in, you charge, and your credit card on file with Tesla is automatically charged as soon as you stop the charging session (whether in the app for your vehicle, pressing the button on the Supercharger handle, or in the vehicle on the control/display panel). You're never more than ~100 miles away from a Supercharger station [1]. With ChargePoint stations (rarely used), I swipe an RFID card or the app on my iPhone/Apple Watch, which authorizes the charge with a J1772 adapter. Super simple, have never had a problem. Many businesses provide Tesla destination chargers or J1772 chargers (or both in some cases) that require no auth to pay, the power is free. I have not encountered anyone who minded tapping an RFID card, phone, or watch at a Chargepoint station; it is no different than using Apple Pay to pay for fuel. These are solved problems from a payment infrastructure perspective, it's just going to take time to shake out as EV adoption increases. The author's mistake was not buying a Tesla EV, as they prioritize efforts to ensure a positive charging experience (including spending hundreds of millions of dollars building out and maintaining EV charging infrastructure). Other automakers make no efforts whatsoever (except at brand dealerships; who wants to charge at a car dealership?) to provide charging infrastructure, with this being the result. Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 owners face the same hassles in the US. [1] https://supercharge.info/map https://supercharge.info/map
- NotSammyHagar 6y ago
  That article is painful to read. In the US with a Tesla everything is easy and automatic on their network. As you say, you can use their network, your credit card is on file, you just plug in and charge. You can use the currently most available third party networks (j1772 charges via a tesla provided adapter), but not the newer and higher power ccs chargers - but other charging network suffer from idiotic network operators who don't fix them frequently. Other cars are also cursed with much lower power AC charging. Companies cheap out by not including reasonable AC charging options onboard. Only Tesla makes it work and reasonable for long distance driving.
- mikestew 6y ago
  The author's mistake was not buying a Tesla EV The commenter's mistake was not reading the...part where the author cannot buy a Tesla in their home country. Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 owners face the same hassles in the US. What hassles are you referring to? You just outlined how one taps a card and charges at ChargePoint stations, which doesn't seem like a hassle? The only hassle I've encountered in nine years of Leaf ownership is a non-operative charger.
  - toomuchtodo 6y ago
    TLDR Blog post should be “I made a mistake buying an EV in Croatia” If you can’t buy a Tesla, and settle for another EV, you can’t complain about the garbage third party charging experience. They’re (Non Tesla EVs) perfectly fine golf carts (<100 miles round trip) if you never make long trips with them though. Non Tesla level 2 chargers can be out of order (as you mentioned), causing range anxiety or exceptionally slow travel plans for Leafs, i3s, and other EVs without a manufacturer provided charging network. I’ve never had a Supercharger or destination charger be out of order upon my arrival and need to charge (it happens I’ve heard, it just much more rare than neglected third party charging stations). I opportunistically charge at ChargePoint stations, but don’t need to due to having 300+ miles of range; them being out of order doesn’t impact me in our S, X, or Y. I can always Supercharge, other EVs have limited options (as this blog post demonstrates). Anyway, I think the case is really “don’t buy an EV if you need to travel and the charging infrastructure doesn’t exist”, and being of low quality is just as bad as not existing.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
ryukafalz 6y ago
Right; if these stations all have RFID readers already, why can’t they at least accept contactless payments the same way any normal payment terminal or gas pump would? I like the idea of having an EV in theory, but not if it’s going to be a hassle to pay for electricity even when it’s sitting in front of a charger.
jackson1442 6y ago
My primary experience has been with ElectrifyAmerica (Volkswagen), and they have both an rfid reader for their cards, you can activate it with their app (both of which costs less if you pay the $4/mo. membership), and there's a standard contactless/emv/stripe card reader. The only struggle I've had is when they charge slower than they're supposed to since they bill you per minute.
tenacious_tuna 6y ago
user toomuchtodo mentioned this already, but the short version is the US doesn't suffer from the balkanization of charging providers as much. I also own a Tesla, so that balkanization is further reduced. The longer version is that free level 2 charging is reasonably common, at least in my experience in the midwest, and Tesla superchargers are phenomenally easy to use and quite prevalent. Level 2's that aren't free are generally either (a) owned by a parking garage and factored into the cost of parking, or (b) payable via chargepoint. Every level2 I've seen in the states has had its own cable and a j1772 connector. I know ChAdEMO chargers exist, but I have yet to see a level2 one personally. (Level3 ChAdEMOs require an adapter for use with Teslas.) Additionally, all those are things I made a point of learning before I bought a vehicle that has non-standard (compared to gas) fueling methods. I have aboslutely run into non-ideal conditions: during a trip to Michigan's upper peninsula I had to leave my car in a lot for ~9 hours to charge off a free level 2 charger, since there was no Tesla supercharger in the region. (One is slated to be installed this year, though I wouldn't be surprised if that got delayed.) The chargers I have to pay for are 'in the city', so to speak, and as such are in range of high-speed mobile data even on my crap network. Overall, I partially blame the author for not researching ahead of time what difficulties they may run into, and partially blame EV charging infra manufacturers for balkanizing charging standards so much.
maniacwhat 6y ago
The US has similar issues. I've been stranded in California in the past, unable to fill up a gas car because it wouldn't accept my UK credit cards and cash wasn't an option.

toomuchtodo 6y ago

Disclaimer: We own several Teslas, US-specific. With Tesla Superchargers, it's automatic. You pull up, you plug in, you charge, and your credit card on file with Tesla is automatically charged as soon as you stop the charging session (whether in the app for your vehicle, pressing the button on the Supercharger handle, or in the vehicle on the control/display panel). You're never more than ~100 miles away from a Supercharger station [1]. With ChargePoint stations (rarely used), I swipe an RFID card or the app on my iPhone/Apple Watch, which authorizes the charge with a J1772 adapter. Super simple, have never had a problem. Many businesses provide Tesla destination chargers or J1772 chargers (or both in some cases) that require no auth to pay, the power is free. I have not encountered anyone who minded tapping an RFID card, phone, or watch at a Chargepoint station; it is no different than using Apple Pay to pay for fuel. These are solved problems from a payment infrastructure perspective, it's just going to take time to shake out as EV adoption increases. The author's mistake was not buying a Tesla EV, as they prioritize efforts to ensure a positive charging experience (including spending hundreds of millions of dollars building out and maintaining EV charging infrastructure). Other automakers make no efforts whatsoever (except at brand dealerships; who wants to charge at a car dealership?) to provide charging infrastructure, with this being the result. Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 owners face the same hassles in the US. [1] https://supercharge.info/map https://supercharge.info/map

NotSammyHagar 6y ago
That article is painful to read. In the US with a Tesla everything is easy and automatic on their network. As you say, you can use their network, your credit card is on file, you just plug in and charge. You can use the currently most available third party networks (j1772 charges via a tesla provided adapter), but not the newer and higher power ccs chargers - but other charging network suffer from idiotic network operators who don't fix them frequently. Other cars are also cursed with much lower power AC charging. Companies cheap out by not including reasonable AC charging options onboard. Only Tesla makes it work and reasonable for long distance driving.
mikestew 6y ago
The author's mistake was not buying a Tesla EV The commenter's mistake was not reading the...part where the author cannot buy a Tesla in their home country. Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 owners face the same hassles in the US. What hassles are you referring to? You just outlined how one taps a card and charges at ChargePoint stations, which doesn't seem like a hassle? The only hassle I've encountered in nine years of Leaf ownership is a non-operative charger.
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  TLDR Blog post should be “I made a mistake buying an EV in Croatia” If you can’t buy a Tesla, and settle for another EV, you can’t complain about the garbage third party charging experience. They’re (Non Tesla EVs) perfectly fine golf carts (<100 miles round trip) if you never make long trips with them though. Non Tesla level 2 chargers can be out of order (as you mentioned), causing range anxiety or exceptionally slow travel plans for Leafs, i3s, and other EVs without a manufacturer provided charging network. I’ve never had a Supercharger or destination charger be out of order upon my arrival and need to charge (it happens I’ve heard, it just much more rare than neglected third party charging stations). I opportunistically charge at ChargePoint stations, but don’t need to due to having 300+ miles of range; them being out of order doesn’t impact me in our S, X, or Y. I can always Supercharge, other EVs have limited options (as this blog post demonstrates). Anyway, I think the case is really “don’t buy an EV if you need to travel and the charging infrastructure doesn’t exist”, and being of low quality is just as bad as not existing.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

ryukafalz 6y ago

Right; if these stations all have RFID readers already, why can’t they at least accept contactless payments the same way any normal payment terminal or gas pump would? I like the idea of having an EV in theory, but not if it’s going to be a hassle to pay for electricity even when it’s sitting in front of a charger.

jackson1442 6y ago

My primary experience has been with ElectrifyAmerica (Volkswagen), and they have both an rfid reader for their cards, you can activate it with their app (both of which costs less if you pay the $4/mo. membership), and there's a standard contactless/emv/stripe card reader. The only struggle I've had is when they charge slower than they're supposed to since they bill you per minute.

tenacious_tuna 6y ago

user toomuchtodo mentioned this already, but the short version is the US doesn't suffer from the balkanization of charging providers as much. I also own a Tesla, so that balkanization is further reduced. The longer version is that free level 2 charging is reasonably common, at least in my experience in the midwest, and Tesla superchargers are phenomenally easy to use and quite prevalent. Level 2's that aren't free are generally either (a) owned by a parking garage and factored into the cost of parking, or (b) payable via chargepoint. Every level2 I've seen in the states has had its own cable and a j1772 connector. I know ChAdEMO chargers exist, but I have yet to see a level2 one personally. (Level3 ChAdEMOs require an adapter for use with Teslas.) Additionally, all those are things I made a point of learning before I bought a vehicle that has non-standard (compared to gas) fueling methods. I have aboslutely run into non-ideal conditions: during a trip to Michigan's upper peninsula I had to leave my car in a lot for ~9 hours to charge off a free level 2 charger, since there was no Tesla supercharger in the region. (One is slated to be installed this year, though I wouldn't be surprised if that got delayed.) The chargers I have to pay for are 'in the city', so to speak, and as such are in range of high-speed mobile data even on my crap network. Overall, I partially blame the author for not researching ahead of time what difficulties they may run into, and partially blame EV charging infra manufacturers for balkanizing charging standards so much.

maniacwhat 6y ago

The US has similar issues. I've been stranded in California in the past, unable to fill up a gas car because it wouldn't accept my UK credit cards and cash wasn't an option.