4 ms·

FWIW, I think the card industry itself is having to rethink a lot of stuff for EVs. Petrol pumps with card readers are their own little universe of rules and c

by hakfoo 3y ago

FWIW, I think the card industry itself is having to rethink a lot of stuff for EVs. Petrol pumps with card readers are their own little universe of rules and compliance standards within the credit card industry (the formal term is 'Automated Fuel Dispenser'). It's far enough afield that you're looking at specialized software and vendors, in part because a lot of them support fleet cards, which range from "95% normal Visa/Mastercard, but restricted to a specific merchant category" to "completely different network with its own messaging model". There's been a lot of new spec documents floating around to accomodate differences due to the EV fueling concepts. I suspect the ways we described petrol-- gallons and grades-- don't perfectly map to electricity, and fleet card customers are looking for similar trackability.

theshrike79 3y ago
Also the average gas payment is about 10x larger than what charging an EV costs around here. So the amount of money "lost" on credit card fees and whatever the actual physical device costs to operate is relatively a lot bigger. VS an app, where you keep almost 100% of the money AND can track your users better.
- petre 3y ago
  Just set a minimum limit on the charge amount for the fee overhead to be acceptble. Why an app? Just pay with a card or NFC. If I have to install an app it's a no go. Funds "lost" in multiple apps, unable to be redeemed, tracking etc.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    For me (coming up on 9 years of LEAF ownership), the app is something that helps me find the station in the first place and is something that’s more likely to be with me and easily found than a rarely used card or fob. I had a Chargepoint key fob for a while, which was also always with the car, but it eventually broke and a replacement was chargeable to me, so I chose not to buy it, as I already had the app. The app isn’t required, but I prefer it.
  - theshrike79 3y ago
    I use RFID/NFC tags 99% of the time, but I still need the app if I want real-time information whether a charger is online and available anyway. There are services that try to combine all that data into a single application (or even the car's infotainment), but every one of those sucks to a different degree.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
closeparen 3y ago
ZipCar has an elaborate fleet card setup. I remember having to type in the current odometer value, and some other identifiers, on the gas pump keypad. Never seen something like that before.
- albrewer 3y ago
  I worked as a delivery driver for an auto parts store in ~2010. We had the same thing, but the card was tied to the vehicle (the card was literally attached to the vehicle's key) so we didn't have to type in the vehicle ID.

by hakfoo 3y ago

theshrike79 3y ago

Also the average gas payment is about 10x larger than what charging an EV costs around here. So the amount of money "lost" on credit card fees and whatever the actual physical device costs to operate is relatively a lot bigger. VS an app, where you keep almost 100% of the money AND can track your users better.

petre 3y ago
Just set a minimum limit on the charge amount for the fee overhead to be acceptble. Why an app? Just pay with a card or NFC. If I have to install an app it's a no go. Funds "lost" in multiple apps, unable to be redeemed, tracking etc.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  For me (coming up on 9 years of LEAF ownership), the app is something that helps me find the station in the first place and is something that’s more likely to be with me and easily found than a rarely used card or fob. I had a Chargepoint key fob for a while, which was also always with the car, but it eventually broke and a replacement was chargeable to me, so I chose not to buy it, as I already had the app. The app isn’t required, but I prefer it.
- theshrike79 3y ago
  I use RFID/NFC tags 99% of the time, but I still need the app if I want real-time information whether a charger is online and available anyway. There are services that try to combine all that data into a single application (or even the car's infotainment), but every one of those sucks to a different degree.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

closeparen 3y ago

ZipCar has an elaborate fleet card setup. I remember having to type in the current odometer value, and some other identifiers, on the gas pump keypad. Never seen something like that before.

albrewer 3y ago
I worked as a delivery driver for an auto parts store in ~2010. We had the same thing, but the card was tied to the vehicle (the card was literally attached to the vehicle's key) so we didn't have to type in the vehicle ID.