I'm ripping the band-aid off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJOfyMCEzjQ

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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@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.

@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…

@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.

@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.