[hef19898]

And I've seen people calling that typical backwards German internet policy. Not sure why closed-wall, obscure subscription solutions to pay for commodity services would be preferable to a robust, proven and easily accessible payment solution like credit/debit cards. It works at scale for fuel, why not for electricity? Heck, if you want it fancy throw in Google, Apple Pay or whatever contactless solution there is.

As far as payment for charging is concerned, EVs seem to be really backwards compared to to the existing fuel station networks.

Also intriguing how Tesla is able to sell a legal requirement as a great initiative on their behalf.

[ralfd]

The criticism I heard on DeutschlandFunk was that now they can't build chargers into thin lampposts or other places with space constraints.

It also makes chargers more expensive both in production cost and in maintenance, as you have to support a display and physical buttons and stuff, all that for a "legacy payment method".

[Reason077]

Presumably the payment terminal doesn't need to be built into the individual charger itself. Just like paying for parking in a large car park, there aren't parking meters on every individual space, but rather you can walk to a central terminal to pay.

[hef19898]

So on the one side we are pushing all kinds of contactless payment methods, incl. credit cards, only to call them "legacy" once those don't result in yet another walled garden but rather the opposite.

[thesimon]

> Not sure why closed-wall, obscure subscription solutions to pay for commodity services would be preferable to a robust, proven and easily accessible payment solution like credit/debit cards

Because these obscure methods of paying usually work out a lot cheaper than paying directly by credit card (usually they have a QR code with a website).