Nio, a US-listed Chinese EV start-up, runs more than 3,000 such stations in China. Its embrace of the technology has made it an outlier among its peers because most other manufacturers rely on recharging technology.

At first I thought this was a pretty good idea, but then realized that every car model would have to be designed and manufactured to work with *their* equipment, or it doesn’t work at all. Now that may have some appeal to certain manufacturers, but isn’t it a lot easier to have a standard plug and recharge any model that comes down the pike?

Some models will take more charge, some less. Some will be faster and some will be slower, but 100% will be serviceable. Imagine if gas stations could only fill Ford cars, or you had to go to a different one for a Volvo or a Toyota. It would be weird, less convenient, and likely more expensive. Instead we have a standard for gas (well, 3 or 4, actually, but all fro the same pump) and any ICE car can pull into any station and fill up.

EVs, as they are currently built, have different size and shape battery packs. Different ranges. And likely different systems for putting in and taking out. Give it 10 years and there will another 200 variants.

Seems more logical to have a standard plug, even if it takes a bit longer to fill.