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It isn't just CCS vs. CHAdeMO vs. "normal plug" vs. CEE that is the problem. The worst problem is actually paying for the juice. You cannot use credit or debit
by corty 6y ago
It isn't just CCS vs. CHAdeMO vs. "normal plug" vs. CEE that is the problem.
The worst problem is actually paying for the juice. You cannot use credit or debit cards or even cash. No. You have to sign up with a charging network that sends you a charging card for something between 5 and 25 EUR/month. With that card you then have the privilege to get juice for somewhere between 30 (normal household price in .de) and 300 ct/kWh. But not everywhere, just on the charging outlets in the network. Your chance to have the right card is about 1 in 5 or so. Oh, and billing is unreliable, sometimes/often the card doesn't work because the charger has connectivity problems. And there are even chargers where there is no proper energy meter involved, so they just bill by the minute...
It's either Tesla or charging at home, the rest is nonviable in Germany.
- squeed 6y agoArgh, that's been my experience too. (I've just rented electric cars). None of the charging stations take credit cards; they all have some byzantine payment method. There are weird resellers abound - some have apps that work, some have crashy pieces of crap. Some have clear pricing models, others have weird "memberships" and surprise bills. The same charging station can cost wildly different amounts to different people. It reminds me of the bad old days of American long-distance service. Really difficult to actually pick the right provider. There are a lot of EV chargers in Germany but they're such a bizarre experience. And they're not cheap! It costs ~15eur to fully charge a car here in Berlin.