I hope that part of the standard is that all vehicles shall have a charge plug on either front/right or back/left corners.

Making the cable longer makes the experience worse for everyone - it makes the cable heavier (harder to use), more expensive (which will end up in power prices), easier to damage (as it is dragged across the floor or driven over), more electrical losses in the cable (again, higher prices).

There are plenty of other things we have standardized for similar reasons - for example, imagine if different banks had credit cards that were different sizes so wouldn't fit in your wallet.

I never understood why front-center didn't become the standard here. That would obviate more stand placement and cable length issues.

The only people who stand to lose are those weirdos who reverse into parking places. ;)

(Rear-center would work too)

>The only people who stand to lose are those weirdos who reverse into parking places. ;)

As a weirdo who reverses into parking spaces, I find that it's almost always safer doing that in a crowded parking lot than it is to park nose in.

When you're driving up to the spot you're already (hopefully) fully attentive to any risks (children, animals, people crossing, whatever), and can wait or carefully drive around those obstacles. Then when you're ready to leave you're already facing the optimal angle to slowly inch out and look in all directions for hazards.

If you're backing out of a car space you have to trust your ability to look at all three mirrors simultaneously + ideally also straining your neck to cover blind spots.

Many modern cars have very good backup cameras that also show incoming traffic from both sides and don't required 5 eyeballs

Maybe on HN the majority of people have those modern cars, but I assure you in the real world the odds are not that good.

In the context of cars that would be using these chargers, I would assume the vast majority would be "modern" and have good backup cameras

As of 2018, all new cars in the U.S. have been required to have a backup camera.

The backup camera requirement really shaped the auto industry. It meant all models needed a screen too. And that in turn meant that many cars used the same screen for other kinds of UI, replacing buttons and dials, and requiring a computer, software teams, etc.

Compare to Europe, where low end cars don't have a screen - and are also substantially cheaper.

Are there any electric cars without backup cameras?

Or back out the easier and safer way and place your arm behind the passenger seat and physically look out the back windows. It's the way we're taught to reverse where I learned to drive, granted this was before backup cameras existed.

Having the connector in a corner is definitely a lot nicer than central. However, it should be on a passenger side corner rather than driver side as Tesla uses to make curbside charging more convenient.

Probably a few reasons:

1. Number of rear end and front end collisions and how expensive it would be to repair charge ports.

2. It would be ugly, people complain about the radar placement on some cars, imagine every car having both a radar and charge port right in the middle.

One day, on street parking will want to have charging, and that is nearly all parallel parking, for which front/rear center would be suboptimal.

Less sub-optimal than Tesla's driver-side port.

Front center is more prone to debris and ultimately a little less helpful for vehicles that will tow frequently.

Yes. https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23689247/tesla-v4-superch...