> and offer access through its own Walmart app.
8-(
I've _never_ been required to "join the club", or "run the app" to purchase gasoline.
Why does charging an EV require use of an app?
This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal...
8-(
I've _never_ been required to "join the club", or "run the app" to purchase gasoline.
Why does charging an EV require use of an app?
This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal...
I do agree that chargers requiring an app are a royal pain. We're an all-EV household and I don't bother with local chargers that don't have readers or support plug-and-charge. There's a lot of Shell chargers in our area that require an app to work and almost no-one uses them because of how clunky it is.
For all of those people, using the chargers won't require downloading some new clunky app that they only have because of EV charging.
It will be that an app they already have and use regularly and already have their payment information adds EV charging to the list of Walmart goods and services that they already use it for.
[1] https://www.appsrhino.com/blogs/walmart-grocery-delivery-app...
Teslas do not need any app for charging. I mean sure, they do have an app, but no need to even have the app on the phone or with you to charge. No need for a phone or a credit card or a code or a password or a chip or a retina scan or interacting with a screen or tapping a keypad or anything. Just plug the plug into the car at the supercharger and it charges. Or, do it at home, cheaper.
> This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal...
Assuming it was app-exclusive, you would have a hard time convincing anyone that someone might be capable of driving an EV on the road while also having enough of a disability to make it impossible for them to use a phone app.
There are already members-only gas stations such as the ones attached to Costco. This would be following the same pattern but with an app instead of a card, which is actually far more easy to acquire than a paid Costco membership.
EV charging stations that take cash are not going to be common.
Card or app allow unattended use. Cash does not.
It doesn't. Almost all DC fast charging I've done has been plug and charge or with a normal credit card terminal.
Meanwhile when I buy gas at QT or Sam's Club I pay through an app.
* Donwload the Walmart app
* Scan the QR code
So a valid response to "Why does charging an EV require use of an app" is, it doesn't, other places don't require it.
Even aside from that, many charging networks _do_ require "membership", "running the app", and often even require a pre-established balance on the account for the most convenient charging process.
It seems Walmart is also planning to follow this strategy, which is the point of the original objection.
As mentioned, the vast majority of my public DCFC experiences haven't used an app at all.
(I should note that I have occasionally encountered charging stations that had integrated credit card readers, but they have all been out of service.)
Planning long journeys means having an app for every stop.
It really shouldn't.
Last time I looked into it InterCharge (OICP) was still just 1 of 4 competing protocols along with OCPI, OCHP and eMIP.
Has OICP displaced the others now or are they still fighting it out?
The salient point is the consumer perspective: I can have one generic app to handle charging payments for basically any public charge point and I interact the same way with all of them, I put the plug in my car and scan a QR code.
The debate in that unified market is more about price discrimination, because prices at a given charge point may vary depending on who operates it versus who your e-mobility provider is. Which is quite annoying in itself and should be fixed. But paying 59 ct/kWh vs. 69 ct/kWh is quite different from having a dedicated "car charging apps" folder on your phone.