'Plug & Charge' Brings Charging Simplicity To Other EV Networks

The same ease of charging Tesla has had for nearly a decade is coming to other EV charging networks.

Suppose every time you went to buy gas, you needed a phone app or an RFID fob, and you had to be pre-enrolled with the brand. Drive in, validate the pump, and then learn how much you'd pay for your gasoline. No fob or app? Then you’d have to call a toll-free number to provide credit card info over the phone.

That's pretty much how electric car charging works today, for everyone but Tesla drivers. Some EV drivers carry up to six swipe cards, fobs, or phone apps for different networks along their travel routes.

There's a better way, and as early as 2012, Tesla showed the U.S. how to do it. You just drive in, plug in to charge, and any billing happens on the back end. That's how it should be, and the company's high-speed Supercharger network now lets you drive a Tesla almost anywhere in the lower 48 states.

Like Apple, though, Tesla has the advantage of a closed ecosystem. Only Teslas can charge at Tesla Supercharger sites. The company controls both sides of the transaction. Eight years later, the rest of the EV world, dozens of separate EVs, all of which may charge on dozens of different networks, has started to catch up.

All other charging networks will soon operate like the Tesla chargers. The machine will tell you to plug in first. Then it will quickly identify the car, validate the charge, and start the current flowing. No fob, no app, no toll-free number to call.

The magic behind this mundane transaction is the Plug & Charge protocol, which identifies an EV to a charging station. The charging network then validates the car with its maker, which provides billing information that starts the charging.

The U.S. system is similar (but not identical) to the European Plug & Charge protocol already in use by drivers of several EVs on the pan-European Ionity network and others. Half a dozen car brands funded Ionity to make long-distance EV travel practical and seamless through more than a dozen European countries.

Plugging in a car and having it charge automatically doesn't sound like much, but the software integration and validation to make it happen are surprisingly complex. Electrify America, for instance, tests dozens of charging stations for compatibility with dozens of the latest electric cars.

Plug & Charge is rolling out in the newest generations of EVs sold in the U.S. The Mustang Mach-E and the 2021 Porsche Taycan both started shipping to dealers during December with the software installed.

Credit: caranddriver.com