Although I find it annoying, there is a logical explanation: costs (how could it be otherwise). If you want to pay with a debit or credit card, you need a full payment terminal. This payment terminal must be able to communicate with all banks, such as ATMs; So there are recurring costs, regardless of the security required.

If you want to be able to scan an RFID tag, you need exactly this RFID scanner. The RFID scanner only needs to be able to chat with the pole owner, who can then authorize the session with the charge card provider. This is simpler and cheaper.

Charging stations become much more expensive if they all need a full charging station, and then you don’t know if they will actually be used or not. They do exist, and options to pay by debit/credit card, but especially in really crowded places like fast chargers along the highway. Random AC charging stations in parking lots, in residential areas or in businesses, you just have to find out if they are used that much.

The solution of course would be to group charging stations and then, like a parking meter, pay at a central location with a PIN/credit card and then activate the correct station with a number or something like that. But this reminds me of buying paper parking tickets, which we also do via an app these days, right? In Denmark, I simply activated most charging stations using an app (of course from the station manufacturer), which was linked to my credit card. Now that’s convenience