Sorry if this is a dumb question. I currently drive a hybrid and am looking to upgrade in the next 1- 2 years to either PHEV or full EV. In either scenario, I envision most of my charging will be done at home. However, if I go full EV, I will eventually need to charge in public.
I’ve read it varies from charging network to charging network, so I figure I’d ask EV owners what their experiences are like. I really don’t like the idea of relying on an app or monthly subscription or anything like that.
So, is a debit card more or less guaranteed to be accepted, and if so, are the rates significantly higher than some kind of membership option?
Edit: In the US if it matters.
It’s been about a year since I had an EV but I had about 3-4 apps that I had to use to pay for charging. It seemed more prevalent in my area to find these than ones that just accepted straight up credit/debit card. Hell, I’d say finding free chargers was easier than finding ones that accepted credit/debit, and those were not too common either.
Though I think this largely depends on the areas you will be driving.
I only gave up my EV because it was getting old and was going to be expensive to maintain (BMW i3). Nice little car, but one of the first mainstream EVs and BMW did some stupid shit like small wheels that were expensive and didn’t last long. Otherwise miss having it. I don’t miss having so many fucking apps just to pay to charge in public.
There’s an app I used that would show me different chargers available and I could also see what companies they were or if they were free.