4 ms·

> Why should it be necessary to install software in order to fuel a vehicle? What benefit exists for the consumer? It's a pilot. But, IMO, we should require o

> Why should it be necessary to install software in order to fuel a vehicle? What benefit exists for the consumer? It's a pilot. But, IMO, we should require ordinary credit/debit card access to high-speed chargers. Every time I use a Supercharger, I spend around $10 bucks, so there's no need to work around credit card fees.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
POS terminals aren’t cheap, so by require you mean regulation and consumers will bear the costs? > Every time I use a Supercharger, I spend around $10 bucks, so there's no need to work around credit card fees. They could always take the Starbucks app approach here and require periodic loading of money to your account, which then only incurs the fee occasionally.
- foepys 5y ago
  > POS terminals You can get portable card readers for like $50. Everything including the postage stamps for regulatory approval will be more expensive.
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    > You can get portable card readers for like $50. Yes, but we aren't talking about portable readers, we are talking about commercial grade ones that will need their own displays and can stand up to weather and various beatings like gas station POS. So let's add a few zeros to that. But maybe I misunderstood you and you meant that all the users should get portable card readers for their phones so they can use EV charging with their credit cards?
ip26 5y ago
The original brilliance behind Superchargers is how simple the hardware is. Essentially just a 400V cable. The internet-connected car does most of the work. A payment terminal at superchargers is entirely new hardware (overhead) to install (& fail).
- gwbas1c 5y ago
  > The original brilliance behind Superchargers is how simple the hardware is. In theory. But proprietary technologies that work for people like me have the luxury of being simple. The simplest example is cash. There are still a lot of "unbanked" people who need to buy gas with cash. I'm perfectly happy with entering my credit card number into a menu on my car, and then, via an open protocol, billing happening automatically. But, for the people who for one reason or another can't / won't use credit / debit cards, high speed chargers need to accept cash.
foepys 5y ago
In Germany newly built charging stations will be required to allow payments with credit/debit cards from July 2023 onwards. There will be no requirement to retrofit existing stations but I think that the pressure from the public will eventually be too high and the app requirement will disappear.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

POS terminals aren’t cheap, so by require you mean regulation and consumers will bear the costs? > Every time I use a Supercharger, I spend around $10 bucks, so there's no need to work around credit card fees. They could always take the Starbucks app approach here and require periodic loading of money to your account, which then only incurs the fee occasionally.

foepys 5y ago
> POS terminals You can get portable card readers for like $50. Everything including the postage stamps for regulatory approval will be more expensive.
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  > You can get portable card readers for like $50. Yes, but we aren't talking about portable readers, we are talking about commercial grade ones that will need their own displays and can stand up to weather and various beatings like gas station POS. So let's add a few zeros to that. But maybe I misunderstood you and you meant that all the users should get portable card readers for their phones so they can use EV charging with their credit cards?

ip26 5y ago

The original brilliance behind Superchargers is how simple the hardware is. Essentially just a 400V cable. The internet-connected car does most of the work. A payment terminal at superchargers is entirely new hardware (overhead) to install (& fail).

gwbas1c 5y ago
> The original brilliance behind Superchargers is how simple the hardware is. In theory. But proprietary technologies that work for people like me have the luxury of being simple. The simplest example is cash. There are still a lot of "unbanked" people who need to buy gas with cash. I'm perfectly happy with entering my credit card number into a menu on my car, and then, via an open protocol, billing happening automatically. But, for the people who for one reason or another can't / won't use credit / debit cards, high speed chargers need to accept cash.

foepys 5y ago

In Germany newly built charging stations will be required to allow payments with credit/debit cards from July 2023 onwards. There will be no requirement to retrofit existing stations but I think that the pressure from the public will eventually be too high and the app requirement will disappear.