No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world POTOOOOOOOO @reddthat.com 3w ago

How do you charge an electric car without a credit card?

How do less banked people charge an electric car?

Context: I don't own an electric car yet. I don't have a credit card due to identity theft.

33 comments

I went back through your posts to find out where you were based… and I have discovered that there are in fact many stupid questions 😀…

This may be different in the US as your distances are a little larger… but we charge at home overnight and have never needed to charge anywhere else. Every morning we have 250miles available and 1200miles a month costs us ~$30 in electricity.

You may be able to get a prepaid debit card and use that on public charging stations for long journeys or emergencies.
- Not the slightest bit creepy at all. Good advice.
  
  Your post/comment history is public, there isn't anything creepy about it.
The better question is how do you charge an ev with a credit card. The ones around here are ridiculous. Instead of a credit card swipe there are a million different apps you have to download. Oh, you parked your car in a parking garage with no reception? Too bad. Make an account, wait for the confirmation email, and then add your credit card into it.

There are conglomerate apps that bundle some of those brands together, but not all of them. Some of them might take paypal or something like it.
If you have a garage, at home. You might want you drop more details to get better answers. E.g. location.
- No garage. No driveway.
  
  I will be that guy and not answer your original question. If you don’t have a way to charge at home, don’t get an electric car.
  
  Besides the convenience factor, it’s far too expensive to use public chargers. It will not be worth it at all.
Depending on the country you may not need an actual credit card, we use debit cards via the MasterCard / visa networks and have no problem with it.
- The only minor problem with debit or charge cards in Europe is that the initial preauthorisation amount is actually debited from your account - so if the preauth is £15 or £30 or £40 - regardless of whether you put £1.50 of juice in or £14.99, the £15 is debited until the transaction finalises and the remainder is refunded a few days later.
  
  As much as I like using contactless payment to avoid using an app or an RFID or NFC card, I do have more problems with failed attempts to charge using a bank card.
  
  Using the ChargePlace Scotland card to tap in seems to work way more consistently for whatever reason, across that network.
  
  edit: or get a Type 2 charger in the house, or a granny charger at worst.
This post is so thoroughly confusing to me.

Charge your car at home, of course! That's what makes them so good! You can charge them on regular outlets, but you can also get a thing installed that makes it faster. No credit card required.
- That works 95% of the time for anyone who owns a house. However the last 5% of trips are to farther than you can get back home and you need an option to charge on the road. Some people travel more than others, and travel in different ways, so that 5% might be 75% of the time for some people and 1% for others.
  
  If you don't own a house you are stuck hoping the landlord provides a working place to charge.
  
  Sure, that's fair enough.
- That’s what I do and never had to use a public charger, however there are a lot of people who live in apartments with out garages or driveways and lack access to an electrical outlet.
  
  Though at that point you should start petitioning the property management to install some common ones.
I charge it at home, but years ago I got a credit card to build credit so I could get a mortgage so that might not work for you.
Maybe you can use a reloadable visa card?
Apps or NFC tags are used where I live.

I charge at home myself, but in the odd case where I've used public chargers I've had to install an app from whatever charging company it is, because I can never find one that takes cards directly, though they all ought to do that by now.

For people who use public chargers a lot, it makes most sense to get some subscription and get a tag for that. Some of them works across different networks. It's a bit of jungle.

The apps probably do require a card to setup, unless you get it through some company where you already have direct debit (f.i. your electricity provider or gas station monthly billing etc.)

It's not that different from gas stations. It's not possible to pay those in cash anymore anyway.
I’ve never paid with a credit card to charge my car. At home, overnight, is all I’ve needed. Road trips would be different, but I didn’t buy the car for that.
I guess you can do something with PayPal. Where I’m from, depending on the ~~borne~~ charging station company, there system work like a prepaid card.

33 comments