I work all over Europe and I’m not super impressed with the state of charging infrastructure in general and it seems particularly bad in German.
One thing that’s super annoying and this is not specific to Germany, but why the fuck do I need some shitty app to use your charger? Should be tap and go like any other purchase. You know, like how I pay for my petrol?
Seems to me like everyone wants to force an app down my throat where it’s really not needed. It especially sucks when you’re a visitor to the country.
> why the fuck do I need some shitty app to use your charger?
I have PHEV that doesn't pull much from a charger, and I usually don't use chargers for money, but... When I charged for fun while I was shopping at a grocery store, it ended up being like a 70 cent charge. If you bill 70 cents to a credit card, it doesn't make sense. Tieing it to an app, you can either charge more and have me loan you the balance, or you can wait until I acrue enough debt that it's economic to charge me.
With full EVs, they can usually pull enough current to reach a billable amount in a short time, but aggregating charges may still be useful.
This is where China has it right. You can pay 1 yuan by WeChat no problem. Scan the QR code, enter "1", the shop terminal says "1 yuan paid" out loud, job done. And yes some things are 1 yuan, for example picking up a parcel from a parcel locker a day late.
Yes, the entire economy is beholden to two payment portals (WeChat and Alipay) and I'm sure the analytics are off the scale and you're completely fucked if you can't use or get banned from the platform but the actual 99% user experience is exactly the microtransaction dream that people have been unable to solve in the west for decades.
It doesn't have to be an app to handle small transactions - different countries already have mechanisms in place to handle that - e.g. any credit card purchase under $5 gets a $1 surcharge, to avoid the surcharge you can tap with a debit card (with much lower transaction costs).
The cities were recently reformed to be car-centric(1960s) and can be easily reverted.
All it takes is an understanding how fucked up it is to operate a 2 tonne personal vehicle everywhere you go(if you are able, which most people aren't, legally or mentally), spread the general knowledge and make a long term commitment to public transport, walking and bicycling.
Making (and uploading) a copy of your data, which might include private documents or corporate secrets that you're contractually obligated NOT to disclose, without asking you permission? That's a "logical consequence" of using a Microsoft OS? If so, then that's the best argument I've heard for not trusting Microsoft.
Good point, it's an oil kingdom that first got rich on dollars during the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970's.
And it's been dollars even since, only more of them.
If you threw out the Qatari decision-makers though, it wouldn't have much positive impact compared to getting rid of the real stinkers around the world that are only getting worse.
Yes, Qatar is a well run kingdom. Sure, there is the issue of foreign labour malpractices, but in my experience in the gulf states they are evolving in that regard.
And who has the videotape recordings taken by Epstein?
Seems to me it’s not very far fetched to believe it’s in the hands of the worlds most premiere spy agency, Mossad, who only needs to hint at revealing this compromising information to get what they want from American leadership. Plus of course their advanced offensive cyber attack capabilities.
They are burning your country to the ground while enriching themselves.
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