Charging e-cars is finally getting easier

Driving to the store in an e-car can be a little adventure. The main reason for this is the complicated and previously largely unregulated charging market in Germany. You can sometimes lose track of the providers of charging stations and charging cards. Aral is now taking Tesla as a role model to counter the chaos.

Model Tesla: Aral introduces Plug&Charge for e-cars throughout Germany

Tesla is a pioneer in electromobility in several respects, even beyond its own electric cars. With Aral, a large German charging provider is now following the US example. At the charging stations of the Aral brand “pulse” the petrol station operator is now using Plug&Charge.

This should end the billing chaos when charging electric cars and make the charging stop more convenient for e-car drivers. Instead of starting the charging process via a control terminal or app, you just plug in the cable and off you go. Charging station and e-car communicate automatically, too Invoicing and payment take place without further action the driver. The data exchange should be encrypted, the information of the customers safe (source: Aral).

At Tesla, the technology has long been standard, albeit not under the name “Plug&Charge”. But only if Tesla drivers also use the company’s own superchargers to charge there. The charging provider Ionity already relies on Plug&Charge. According to Aral Plug&Charge works in the entire pulse networkwhich includes over 500 high-performance charging points.

What e-car drivers need to consider for Plug&Charge

However, there are prerequisites that owners of an electric car must observe: It is not enough if the charging station is Plug&Charge-capable. That too E-car must be equipped accordingly. In Germany, for example, the Porsche Taycan and some versions of the Audi e-tron as well as the Tesla models come as standard. VW wants to introduce Plug&Charge for the electric cars of the ID series in 2022.

Plug&Charge makes life a little easier for e-car drivers. You can find out more about the advantages an electric car offers here:

There shouldn’t be any compatibility problems, the manufacturers rely on a common standard according to ISO standard 15118. Customers also have to have one Have a charging plan that supports Plug&Charge. One provider is unlikely to make a huge difference for German e-car drivers. But Aral’s step points in the right direction for others as well.