Chargepoint public charger payment experience question

[MrOlatheGuy]

I've not started using Chargepoint public stations yet. But I've noticed a few routes that I will want to take in the future that do not have Tesla SC handy. For me, this means I may need to use Chargepoint public stations. I have a few to choose from.

I'm a bit vague on all the methods to pay for the charge when I do. The Chargepoint site tells me that if I don't enter financial information, I can only use 'free' public sites.

How does everyone else pay?

1. Use the chargepoint phone app or chargepoint card to pay for the charge?
2. Use your own credit card to pay for the charge?
3. Use Apple Pay (or similar phone app) to pay?
4. Paypal to pay?
5. Other (please describe)

I'd like to get this feedback so I know what my real options are.

As an aside, I've seen a comment from an older gentleman on a fixed income that after charging at a chargepoint station they placed a $70 charge to his account. Something about being allowed to charge the average monthly balance or some such odd notion that is supposedly in the chargepoint agreement fine print.

If this happens to others, I may wish to rethink my planned use of this network.

I've already seen lots of posts/threads/comments about the unreliability of charging on these stations. I think I understand that part of the experience.

 

[Kandiru]

NFC and location turned on on your cell phone and tap phone with ChargePoint app to reader area.
Plug in after INITIATE CHARGE warning appears with brightly lit button, DO NOT PUSH IT until you plugged in.

Be careful not to activate the other charge bay, YES ChargePoint will have two bay stations marked separately
sometimes, look at the other bay, if it says ready to charge and button lights up you will need to go to the other bay
in the app, duh!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I have a ChargePoint account.
I use my RFID card, unless it's in the other car, in which case I use the app.
When I signed up in late 2020 they sent me 1 free RFID card. You can order more. It's $4.95 each, which is relatively cheap compared to some others.

RFID is simple tap. Really useful thing about RFID is that it doesn't require cell service or wifi. I needed this in Jackman, ME once.

I don't have NFC on my phone. To use the app I log into the App and find and select the charger to start it charging. It has a map and you can use your location to zoom quickly to your charging location. As Kandiru noted above you have to make sure you've selected the correct charger.

I've found both easy to use, but prefer to use RFID.

Using DCFC (at least at the typical chargers here in Maine) I recall that you activate then plug in. You have to stop the session with the RFID or App to unlock and stop charging so you can unplug.
With AC/destination chargers you can plug in then start the charging and then you just unplug to stop.

The order of operations to activate may depend on the chargers/EVSE themselves. Follow the instructions if it's not obvious.
I have found that with DCFC to stop the session you have to use your RFID card or app. whereas with AC you just unplug.

You can use the app to see your charging session, whether you started it with the RFID card or the app.

You can sign up for free and enter a Payment Method. On my Android Phone I see Credit Card, Google Pay and Paypal options. I presume there's ApplePay on Apple phone. I use a credit card. IT seems you can have multiple methods. I only have one so I don't know how it works with multiple methods.

When you first use a ChargePoint charger it will charge your payment method automatically to add a minimum $10 to your account.
It will add another $10 any time you drop below $10.

 

[Rocky_H]

How does everyone else pay?

1. Use the chargepoint phone app or chargepoint card to pay for the charge?
2. Use your own credit card to pay for the charge?
3. Use Apple Pay (or similar phone app) to pay?
4. Paypal to pay?
5. Other (please describe)

Well, these are not all separate options. You need to do #1 anyway to be able to communicate to and activate the stations. But you haven't listed any form of payment method in #1. A "chargepoint card" can't pay anything. So yes, you need to set up an account on the Chargepoint site, and then connect a payment method to that to actually be able to send money into it, which could be any of the methods #2 through #5.

I just put in my normal bank debit card onto my Chargepoint account, and it worked exactly like @ItsNotAboutTheMoney described:

When you first use a ChargePoint charger it will charge your payment method automatically to add a minimum $10 to your account.
It will add another $10 any time you drop below $10.

It'll grab that first $10 charge, and then as you use the Chargepoint stations, it will do little draws from that, and when the balance gets low, it will grab another $10. This is just doing the sensible thing to reduce the number of credit card transactions, since every one has some minimum fees from the credit card companies.

As an aside, I've seen a comment from an older gentleman on a fixed income that after charging at a chargepoint station they placed a $70 charge to his account. Something about being allowed to charge the average monthly balance or some such odd notion that is supposedly in the chargepoint agreement fine print.

If this happens to others, I may wish to rethink my planned use of this network.

That is weird. I have never heard of that happening to anyone, so I wouldn't personally be worried about that. It may have been some strange glitch.