Drivers opening an EV charging app for the first time today will be presented with thousands of so-called “public” chargers at local car dealers. Once they arrive, however, the store’s customers, store hours, security gates, and Wild West pricing can turn what should be a routine charging stop into a frustrating ordeal. For first-time EV drivers, that doesn’t just reflect poorly on the dealer – it reflects poorly on the EV, itself. And we need to fix it.

The EV industry has spent years counting up how many chargers it’s put in the ground, but drivers experiences count for more, I think – and last week, Plug & Play EV‘s Steve Birkett took to LinkedIn to call out his local Hyundai dealer in Union, NJ for charging a ridiculous $15 per kWh to top off his IONIQ 5 (!).

As bad as that was, Steve’s frustration didn’t end there. While he specifically mentions that Ford stores have been better than most, he says that far too many dealers limit access to their charge ports in service of their inventory vehicles’ and service customers’ charging needs, the gates being closed outside of business hours, and generally underwhelming charging speeds were also called out as issues.

Even worse, he noted that a number of area dealerships that had listed their ports as “public” were actively discouraging public use with signs and stickers designed to turn people away.