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Comment by dchuk | Hacker News Reader

I feel like stuff is pretty easy and solved for at gas stations for payment? Why wouldn’t I just pay at the “pump” (charger) exactly like we’ve all been doing for decades now?

Payment done by the car automatically seems like a solution looking for a problem.

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But you're thinking of it as an end customer. What if instead of a 'charging' station getting all the transaction fees the car manufacturers could haggle for some bps and work their way towards a controlling interest in this consortium.

Manufacturers want in because of all the potential $.

Imagine if you had to pull out your credit card every time you wanted to charge your phone at night. This is how most EV drivers charge, so the paradigm for charging an EV is totally different than filling up at a pump.

I got frustrated with dealing with all these charger manufacturer's lousy apps, and that's what led Starlight to focus on building a seamless plug-and-charge experience. No apps required, just plug it in and go.

> Imagine if you had to pull out your credit card every time you wanted to charge your phone at night. This is how most EV drivers charge, so the paradigm for charging an EV is totally different than filling up at a pump.

I’m confused. I have limited expressive with EVs, but when I used a Supercharger, it seemed exactly like a typical gas station experience, other than payment and time spent. Why can’t the payment model be adapted? What am I missing?

Edit: I get it now. It’s aimed at residents, not visitors.

But as a resident, I’m just paying for my electricity monthly, like everyone has been, for literally decades?

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