Mid-June, 2023:
The issue of "standards" is suddenly on everyone's mind this week, but whether
we're using CCS or NACS ultimately boils down to a simple question of adapters.
People are probably starting to understand that already.  However, there is
a deeper running problem across the entire electric vehicle charging industry
that never seems to get talked about: excessive reliance on app-driven charging
access, especially when it's the only way to use the system.  Every charging
network pushes their users to download something from an "app store" to a
smart-device as the primary means of using it, and they don't seem to realize
the problem that such things are not universally accessible.

There's a host of reasons that an app may not be usable -- insufficient
cell-data service at a charger location, a device that cannot download apps
for several reasons including that it may not be shackled to Google or Apple,
lack of a suitable device to begin with, etc.  I shouldn't even have to
enumerate these, as competent system designers should be able to think of
these issues on their own.  Charging networks NEED to provide the public with
alternatives that are more likely to work, such as allowing people to start
charges billed to their account via a website portal with an ordinary browser,
set themselves up for Autocharge or Plug-&-Charge via that same website portal,
offering RFID tap-cards, or at a minimum equipping ALL chargers with robust
outdoor-rated credit/debit chip readers (aka, something better than Nayax).
Anything that doesn't involve trying to load many different pieces of custom
junkware onto a device that may or may not be able to handle it.  And I don't
use that term lightly -- reports from the field indicate that the apps often
have wretched design quality and usability issues, likely due in part to being
written by sketchy offshore coder outfits.  No thanks.

This is suddenly in sharper focus where Tesla is concerned, because they rely
solely on every Tesla driver having their app and working cell service.  If
Tesla is going to play in the truly public market, they need to listen up.
As does anyone else who, like it or not, already IS critical infrastructure.

It's a huge problem around many industries, where disingenuous directives to
"download our app" has become a creeping disease, but heard as simply insulting
by a non-trivial sector of the public.  If it's the only option given, that is
elitist and tone-deaf.  If fueling stations tried to operate this way, there
would be total chaos.  For as much as the charging networks depend on software
to operate at all, they can certainly address this issue sooner and more
handily than other sectors.  They just need to be pushed to realize it's a
growing problem and to do something about it NOW.

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_H*   230617