I had my first run in with Australia’s fast charging network a couple of weeks’ ago while reviewing Kia’s AWD EV6. I was in Bowral, about to head back home back to Sydney and in need of a little top up.
If ever there was an experience which showed me how much work our charging infrastructure needs, it was what followed.
Firstly, I was lucky to get there when no one was around. A couple arrived soon after me and were forced to wait a considerable time while I charged my car.
This, at least, is a problem which is being rapidly tackled. Minister Penny Sharpe announced the NSW Government has put another $44.8 million towards building and maintaining EV fast charging stations. There’s also a fair chunk of Federal cash going around for similar programs.
One of the organisations hoovering up this money is the NRMA. They’ve been given $78.6m of Federal money alone to install an Australia-wide network. It was one of their stations which I ended up at in Bowral.
NRMA’s fast charger gave me a couple of payment options which needed to by activated before I started: I could use the Tap and Go terminal or I could download the app.
I abhor the fact that everything is an app these days. They exist for no other purpose than to harvest your personal details so they can turn you into a demographic and send you chirpy marketing emails every second day until the end of eternity.
Because I wanted my relationship with NRMA to begin and end with them providing me with $15 worth of electricity, I chose Tap and Go. Of course it was broken.
My choices were then limited to: use the app or push the car home.
I can tell you now, option two would have been less painful.
I honestly believe that if I got a bunch of arsehole developers into a room, gave them a million dollars, and asked them to create a user experience intentionally designed to bamboozle and infuriate, they wouldn’t have done better than the NRMA.
The app is buggy enough that the NRMA preemptively sends an automated text message explaining an error code which appears when there’s no payment method added. That’s fair. But where are the payment details for EV charging? Fuck you that’s where.
It took an extended phone call with their helpline before I could finally start charging my car.
While I waited to get the EV6 back to 80%, I helped the waiting couple set up their app. As I was leaving they were negotiating an error message. I pointed at the helpline and wished them luck.
Of course the NRMA is just one charging station provider. There are plenty of others in Australia, all with their own fucky apps and fucky marketing emails. This is a bad user experience, fiddly and annoying.
I can buy a tank of petrol at Ampol without having to set up passwords and tell them my address, email, and mobile number. I would like that courtesy to be extended to EV drivers as well.
