by Suff » 07 Mar 2024, 20:22
I'm pretty sure these vehicles already use a charging socket (ChaDemo), which is no longer added to new chargers. So the number of public chargers you can just go to and plug in are dropping. They have to use an adaptor or a cable which adapts.
In this case, as far as I can work out, it is about the car connecting to the public phone/data network in order for the phone app to talk to it. You can tell the vehicle to do stuff whilst you are out shopping or at work etc.
In this case I suspect a wifi connection at home may work. But when out of the home functionality would be limited.
The interesting thing is that it appears the app is written so that the app must talk to the vehicle over the internet even if they phone is inside the vehicle. Which creates a bit of a problem when your car can't connect to the network any more.
This comes partly down to software design and I guess will become recognised as an issue in time and they will work around it. In 10 years time these Leaf's will be over 20 years old. Not bad for a V1 EV with dodgy battery chemistry which degrades if you charge it anywhere other than a cool dark garage and with a teaspoon. Also with a battery slightly larger than that for a vibrating toy; 20 years will be a real achievement. Given the need to charge it Extremely often.
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