I'm asking a different "why": Why is CCS (allegedly?) "godawful compared"? Because of size? Or is there something else?
What makes Telsa's (supposedly?) 'good' or at least 'better'?
But most of the magic is that there's no UI to the charger device. You pull in, plug in, and walk away. Literally. Your phone will buzz automatically when the charge reaches the level required for your next leg. This part remains Tesla-only. CCS devices at these chargers need to start the current manually with the app.
This is good, and this is bad. It's yet another charging app I need to manage my payment info. I can't just arbitrarily choose a different payment method when I'm there. I'd greatly prefer just a basic card reader so I can choose a payment method. Sure, plug and charge if I didn't supply payment method ahead of time, but otherwise it's just another charging app I need to manage.
But apps with accounts and ToS and such should be banned outright IMO for any charger or at least any charger that receives any sort of public funding. Anyone with a compatible car should be able to charge, without an account, just like at a gas station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15118
While what you say is true about a gas station, I think a lot of the standard privacy arguments dont really hold for a car.
Its literally illegal to drive a car without it being built to the standard the government likes, with an identifiable ID printed on the outside of it, with a valid license with your name and date of birth on, and current registration.
Let alone the fact that the vast majority of cars are sold with gps trackers bolted on if they are financed. Requiring a credit card tied to that vehicle is the least of your privacy worries.
The whole paying on a terminal/using an app thing is the wrong approach I think. Ultimately to charge there is a handshake protocol between two computers, just sort out payment then (and thats the standard NAC supports https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15118)
Adding a payment terminal is just adding another handshake and computer into the mix, a computer that needs to be (mostly) connected to the internet, exposed to the elements, and vulnerable to skimming devices.
It is incredibly rare to see a broken Tesla charger, and if you do, for it not to be repaired by the time you come back. Even at big 12-16 stall stations, it's incredibly rare to see a single one broken.
CCS chargers being broken is the norm, with typical 2 or 4 stall stations often having 1 broken. It's not unusual for the broken stall to go unprepared for weeks to months.
At least that happened to me with some L2 chargers.
Bigger plug also goes with bigger heavier cables, the liquid cables require cooling to charge at high speed, one of the many failure rates is the cooling system which then reverts the chargers to operate at 20% power.
Another of the failures is the locking mechanism, which is obviously strained by the heavy cable.
The plug has to be put in just-so at sort of an awkward alignment/angle, doesn't go in easily like a NACS plug. Presumably the alignment leads to a lot of thrashing wear & tear.
I simply never saw Tesla stalls break at this rate. It isn't getting better either. EA changed brands and some of their NEW stalls begun failing. This after they abandoned maintenance at some sites as they were planning to replace with the new stalls. The other excuse is EA is fully beholden to OEMs for parts whereas Tesla makes their own. So another EA excuse has been they can't get parts.
You don't read about Tesla chargers getting stuck to cars / frying cars / etc as the same rate. Remember in the US there's probably 10x more Tesla cars in the wild, so you should hear charging horror stories at 10x the rate if their chargers were equally bad.
Instead, you hear 10x the CCS horror stories in US than you do Tesla, from 1/10th the population of cars.
Honestly I just don't care about all these "principle of the thing" arguments, I just want to charge my car.
And we aren't going to make a mass EV transition without working, ubiquitous, easy charging. Tesla is the only company to even remotely have this going on right now. And again I say this as a Tesla seller, BMW owner, Elon disliker.
It can be too easy in rough removals to accidentally break the latch on the CCS1 charging cable (and busy car owners may not be careful enough to avoid the rougher removals) and it may be dangerous to operate with a broken latch so some of the software is (usefully) over-cautious about that. Even with the gentlest of usage by people, it's still a mechanical part prone to slow wear and tear from repeated use.
The plug is smaller and self-locates, but is also significantly more robust.