Can we talk about the actual worst part of owning an EV?

Can't someone create some kind of standardized or all-inclusive app that at least takes care of needing a dozen apps and accounts? No app, just pay.

For real, pay at the pump already worked perfect. Like all it has to do is scan/swipe, or insert your card. Pull the plug out and insert into your car and you're done.

Over here in EU , since 2024, chargers are mandated to accept a goddamn card, to have a card reader . (So that means paying by phone as well, obviously, should one prefer to pay by phone). Not all chargers have that yet, but all newly installed ones do and it's being set up at old ones. Some details e.g. here In technical terms, this means that, depending on the type, charging stations must either be equipped with a card terminal or at least have a display that dynamically generates a new one-time code for each transaction. A card terminal really is not much nowadays. They're at the toilet entrances, damn it...

Boggles my mind that they can’t make it like a gas station where you just tap your card on the charger and plug in. It’ll charge whatever amount you use. (And that’s how it works in Europe because of regulation)

Also, a small canopy would be nice. Like every gas station ever.

The worst? All the lobbyists trying to stop the EV takeover from happening. Fucking frustrating. All infrastructure, adoption and perception issues are linked to that.

There shouldn't need to be an app period. If you can pay for gas without an app you should beable to pay to charge without one too

This is what electricity was like in the early days. You look at pictures of Chicago from the early days of electricity, and there were DOZENS of power wires on the poles, because each electric company had to run their own wires to their particular customers. It was a complete mess until things started to consolidate to municipal power and power distribution companies owning the lines. There's no reason charging stations couldn't use a credit card swipe instead of (or in addition to) a stupid app requiring individual passwords.

It's the American way. A similar situation happened 30 years ago with cell phone networks when the technology was first being deployed. Sprint, T-Mobile, Nextel, Verizon and AT&T all were building out their own networks using 3 different incompatible standards while most countries other than the USA had regulators that picked a national standard and ran with with it giving consumers better coverage and not covering the cost of installing redundant infrastructure. At the very least a tap to pay credit card reader should be required on every networked DCFC. In time the market will work it out as EVs become even more widespread, but it will take another decade...

I live in Seattle so the charging really is bountiful, but if I need to go visit my parents in the middle of nowhere NV it starts to get reeeeal difficult in central eastern Oregon. I do hate when people say “range anxiety isn’t a thing” when of course it is, and always has been, even for gas cars. There’s a reason we have “last gas x miles” signs. We’d sooner take our Subaru.

Worst part of owning an EV is hearing about owning an EV from someone who doesn’t own one.

I'm not sure what kind of EV you have, but this is getting better I have a Chevy Bolt and a Rivian R1S. I rarely DC charge the former, but when I do, I have to fiddle with an app like you. On my Rivian, the company now has agreements with Tesla, Electrify America, and others. I just plug it in, it works, and I get an email with a receipt as soon as I'm done. It is easier than swiping a credit card or getting gas.

I work in the charging industry. Biden’s infrastructure bill mandated app-free payment to access public funding. Trump rolled it back.

Should be no need for any app - tap and pay and or swipe - and all cars should have the same charger.

So we're all agreeing to government regulation right and that standards are a good thing?

I think there are 2 main things holding back widespread EV adoption: Needing lvl 2 home charging Charging stations being as ubiquitous as gas stations

Funny part is that’s exactly like pay to park these days.

It’s why I, even without a Tesla, use mostly the Tesla charging network. It just works. It’s highly available. It’s only one app.

I guess I’m in the minority but I’ve only needed an app maybe 2-3 times when charging away from home. 2 of those were lvl 2 chargers. Once at a hotel and the other at a shopping center. All the DCFC I’ve used have been tap to pay. I do agree tho. The fact any of them require apps is crazy.

Can we talk about the actual worst part of owning an EV? Can we talk about the actual worst part of owning an EV in the USA?

You know who can do that? Government. You’re asking for a world in which charging infrastructure is regulated and maintained by a supervisory authority. This is the kind of thing that governments do.

Eight apps? Last count for me was 21 lol Edit: I’ll try to provide at least a little value here, many smaller networks interface with ChargePoint’s app to start and pay for charges. Check ChargePoint

Agree tap to pay should be a requirement - at least as an option. You forgot the worst part about most of those apps - that they don’t actually charge you for what you use - they keep a balance that you can never really fully exhaust because it automatically ‘refills’ when you go below a certain threshold. Honestly, we are mostly immune to this problem with a Tesla as our primary EV. It belies belief that Tesla has had this right for well over a decade and yet here we still are with every other network.

The state tax I pay is unjust. Way higher than the equivalent gas tax. Just make everyone pay it you dimwits.

This is what happens when the regulators leave the market to figure it out for itself. Also cable tv monopolies.