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I recently used an electric car charger where the charger is controlled by a mobile app that's basically a thin wrapper over a website. Unfortunately I only had a 0.25 Mb/s Internet plan at the time and it took me several minutes just staring at the splash screen as it was downloading JavaScript and other assets. Even when I got it to load, it hadn't managed to download all fonts. Truly an eye-opening experience.

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Why can't we just pay with a payment card at electric chargers? Drives me insane.

These chargers have an RFID tag too, but I'd forgotten it in my jacket, so it was mobile app for me.

There are some chargers that take card payments though. My local IKEA has some. There's also EU legislation to mandate payment card support.

https://electrek.co/2023/07/11/europe-passes-two-big-laws-to...

It wasn't required by law and the ocpp charging protocol, used to manage charge sessions at a high level between the charger and the service provider (not the vehicle) did not include payments management. Everybody just found it easier to manage payments using apps and credits. But I think Europe is going to make it mandatory soon(ish)

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