Technology ConnectionsI'm ripping the band-aid off.
Tesla won the plug war - and that's good news!
A surprisingly good series of events have unfolded, and this video is my mea culpa. Also, Sorry, John!Links 'n' stuffHere's a playlist to all of my EV-relate...
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Quinn Nelson@TechConnectify You did a fantastic job. I don’t know how it could be done better. That said, we still disagree on plug-and-charge. I think having a payment terminal is a must for those that wish not to trifle with it; however, as someone who lived with plug-and-charge for years and no longer have it, I miss it a lot. Imagine having to authenticate every time you plugged in at home. Many people only charge via DC.
@snazzyq I guess my counterpoint would be that the people that currently rely on DC fast charging and can't charge at home are living the same life that people with gas cars do.
I just can't see plug-and-charge as anything more than a "well that's neat," because if payment /actually worked/ with a simple tap of a card (or a watch if you're into that) it would be a non-issue.
@snazzyq but, thank you for the kind words!
I was really worried about this video, but it looks like I've only bothered the most unreasonable of Tesla stans (like the guy who called my description of it as proprietary "FUD")
Stephen Hackett 
@TechConnectify @snazzyq He’s probably just excited about paying for Twitter Blue
Sam Schmitt@TechConnectify @snazzyq I think in a world where both charger CC terminals and plug-and-charge worked equally reliably, I think over 60% of people would set up plug and charge.
@samcat116 @snazzyq Ehh... I don't know.
It's still pretty rare that I actually see people use Apple or Google Pay in the wild.
And beware; if there's ever a platform to discuss tech issues on that is full of tech-heavy people, it's this one. The crowd here is, uh, not at all representative of the public at large.
@samcat116 @snazzyq Also, if I may toot my own horn, I think my YT audience is way less EV-aware than the average car or EV channel. It's only a small subset of my content.
And in the comments section, it sure looks like "just take my damn credit card" is quite a popular position.
Honestly this is a huge reason why I don't put much value on it. I truly think the public at large doesn't care and just wants what's familiar.
@TechConnectify @snazzyq Hah, I actively avoid places that don’t take Apple Pay, but that is probably my northeast US bias showing through.
And you’re definitely right about the audience here. I think it’s likely somewhere in the middle of us. But I think a lot of people would take some innovation over the gas station dispenser reader if it was an option! If only more of those supported tap to pay/Apple Pay…
Kornel@TechConnectify in the EU where contactless payments have been the norm for years, and Ionity + Fastned are probably bigger than Tesla’s network — I still strongly prefer plug and charge.
Payment auth takes a few seconds (or longer if in the middle of nowhere). Awful software often requires pressing some “ok” button before or after. This feels annoyingly slow, especially when it’s raining and the station doesn’t have a canopy.
penguin42@kornel @TechConnectify It feels like you should merge these; with the car presenting your CC data (or a token for it) to the charger
@penguin42 @TechConnectify There are already standards for it — the car can present a TLS certificate to identify itself.
Hyundai unfortunately doesn't implement this, so the Fastned network recognizes cars by MAC address (yes, the charging cable has an ethernet connection).
@kornel @TechConnectify oh god, they're all going to be hopelessly insecure aren't they.
Benjamin Woodring@TechConnectify @snazzyq A lot of gas stations have been pushing app payments. Wawa (very popular convenience chain in the mid-Atlantic and Florida) restricts their gas discount promotions to app payment to encourage paying that way. My theory on why gas stations (and possibly EV chargers) are pushing this is because they don’t have to worry about credit card skimmers at the pumps if people are paying in the app. Of course contactless also eliminates this risk…so who knows.
Max von Webel@TechConnectify @snazzyq Most people I know don’t even know they can use other providers apps or card. They simply use the card that was provided to them by their car manufacturer and have no idea they have any choice. Those people will be very happy with plug-and-charge as for them the only difference is that they can’t loose the RFID card anymore.
@TechConnectify @snazzyq For me on the other hand paying by debit card directly at the charger would remove a lot of flexibility. How would the charger know it has to get the electricity for me from my tiny 100% regenerative energy provider without the extra information on the RFID card/app?