Richard_C wrote: 06 Dec 2019, 18:28
Mandrake wrote: 06 Dec 2019, 11:41
I suspect China is using unique connectors as a way to control the entry of foreign EV's into their domestic market by effectively crippling grey market imports...
Or, sensibly, China has set a universal standard so you can charge any car up at any charge point, albeit with different charge rates.
No, what they've done it's created a 3rd standard (4th if you count superchargers) instead of using one of the already established standards Chademo or CCS. This comic springs to mind:
https://xkcd.com/927/
Right now, I can buy petrol/diesel at any filling station in the world using either cash in local currency or a credit card. If I had an electric vehicle I would have to find a vacant charger with the right sort of connection and which uses a payment method I have subscribed to/downloaded/ whatever.
You're confusing connectors with methods of payment. Two separate issues. Ignoring super chargers which only Teslas can use there have been three connectors used for rapid charging in the past in the UK:
1) The Type 2 AC connector - only used for rapid charging on the Zoe, now considered to be obsolete for rapid charging and the 2019 Zoe has switched to CCS. Still the standard connector for slower AC charging.
2) Chademo - the first DC rapid charging standard. Still the standard in Japan but considered to be legacy now in the EU/UK and will eventually be phased out.
3) CCS - the EU/UK officially adopted standard.
China adding yet another incompatible system only adds to this list.
The vast majority of UK rapid chargers have both Chademo and CCS and most still have rapid AC either, so finding a suitable connector is not an issue.
You are quite right about the issue of payment and authentication, that's a mess and needs sorting out as it is a significant barrier to the widespread adoption of EV's. The government had a chance to fix this and they screwed up.
There were calls for them to mandate that every network offer ala carte contactless payment as an option the same as what Instavolt already offer however in the end this was watered down to all networks being required to provide access without a subscription, however a phone app was considered an acceptable means of doing this so contactless did not become a mandated requirement.
Big mistake! And I suspect this point will be revisited in the future...