EV charging being disabled?

perspicacious:

Provocative title prompted by a client taking me for a drive in his EV,

He extolled the virtues of being able to use his smartphone to select charge times at home to suit cheap tariffs.

He added that the car's software was allegedly updated on an ongoing basis.

I was thinking, theoretically, what is stopping either the car manufacturer disabling the charge process either completely or partially, yet alone any other functions such as being able to open the car door to get in?!!!!!!

Or a hacker doing the same?

Just wondering..............

Don't get me started on vehicle software - this week I discovered that I shall never again be able to wind down the windows in my 2006 M-B until, at a price, the software is updated. ?


But I digress ...


Does the smartphone tell the car what to do, or the charger what to do?


How is the software updated? Via the charger, satellite, wifi, bluetooth, WHY?


Would the manufacturer want to disable the car? Perhaps! Might be useful if a car were reported as stolen.


Same as any 'puter, wired connexions are much more difficult to hack than wireless ones.


Some years ago, a colleague pointed out that smartphones are not 'phones, but a small computers which have the facility to make telephone calls.


Perhaps the same is becoming true of cars: computers which have the ability to take you from A to B. (Soon you won't even have to do the driving.)

perspicacious:

Provocative title prompted by a client taking me for a drive in his EV,

He extolled the virtues of being able to use his smartphone to select charge times at home to suit cheap tariffs.

He added that the car's software was allegedly updated on an ongoing basis.

I was thinking, theoretically, what is stopping either the car manufacturer disabling the charge process either completely or partially, yet alone any other functions such as being able to open the car door to get in?!!!!!!

Or a hacker doing the same?

Just wondering..............

Don't get me started on vehicle software - this week I discovered that I shall never again be able to wind down the windows in my 2006 M-B until, at a price, the software is updated. ?


But I digress ...


Does the smartphone tell the car what to do, or the charger what to do?


How is the software updated? Via the charger, satellite, wifi, bluetooth, WHY?


Would the manufacturer want to disable the car? Perhaps! Might be useful if a car were reported as stolen.


Same as any 'puter, wired connexions are much more difficult to hack than wireless ones.


Some years ago, a colleague pointed out that smartphones are not 'phones, but a small computers which have the facility to make telephone calls.


Perhaps the same is becoming true of cars: computers which have the ability to take you from A to B. (Soon you won't even have to do the driving.)