EVs of both the four- and two-wheeled variety are gaining popularity all over the world. No matter where you go, it seems that more and more EVs are parked in malls, commercial centers, and office buildings. And indeed, the allure of sustainability, convenience, and practicality is what fools so many into spending way too much money on these appliances on wheels.
Surely, when buying an EV, you’d think that charging should be much easier than filling up at the pumps. And while in theory it should be as easy as charging your smartphone, this couldn’t be any further from the truth.
You see, there are layers upon layers of faff that can quickly turn your dream charging experience into a nightmare. You know, apps, subscriptions, payment links, and authorization steps? I ran into this craziness not too long ago when I drove for a buddy of mine in his EV. We decided to charge it up at a gas station while grabbing some lunch. How hard could it be? All I had to do was plug the damn thing in, right? Spoiler alert: I was wrong.
After plugging the thing into the charger, the screen told me that I had to download some obscure charging app I’d never heard of before. After that, I would then need to link said app to one of my P2P payment accounts, authorize it through email, and wait for an SMS verification code. By the time I found the App on the Apple App Store, our lunch was waiting for us. Not wanting my food to go cold, I decided that we had enough charge left to make it home, and decided not to deal with the hassle of using public charging infrastructure.
And I know that a lot of you share the same sentiments, too. Thankfully, however, the powers that be are taking notice, and things just might become a lot easier moving forward.
This is where the “Plug and Charge” protocol enters the picture. It’s a partnership between SAE Industry Technology Consortia, several manufacturers, and EV charging operators, and is backed by the Biden administration’s Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. A story by The Verge goes into great detail on how it all works, but in essence, the project’s goal is to make EV charging as easy as it should’ve been from the very start.
With Plug and Charge, you can simply plug your EV into any public charger, and your vehicle will automatically communicate with the charger and bypass all the stuff you previously had to deal with. No more apps, no more logins, no more QR codes. Just charge, pay with your card, and ride away.
But of course, all this is much easier said than done. In order for Plug and Charge to be widely adopted, the collaboration of pretty much all automakers and electric motorcycle manufacturers is a must-have. And that’s because each and every Plug and Charge-equipped vehicle will need to have that line of code to communicate with chargers. So yeah, it isn’t magic, but rather, more tech to get around the hurdles brought to the table by, well, tech.
The article by The Verge reports that the project has cost around $1.5 million in development so far. But of course, should this thing be widely adopted, we can see the cost of this project growing substantially. Future funding will reportedly come from the companies that want to get involved. And at the end of the day, there’s a good chance that we as consumers will ultimately pay for the stuff. Manufacturers will market Plug and Charge as a feature of their vehicles, and this will likely reflect on the sticker price.
But hey, if they’re gonna milk us of our money, might as well do it in a way that’s as hassle-free as it can get, right?
Sources: The Verge, SAE International
