A Charter for Smoother EV Charging Payments

What is it?

A proposed set of guiding principles to achieve a frictionless and consistent charging experience for the EV industry, which will be made possible through greater collaboration between the payments sector, Public Charge Point Operators (CPOs), and Charge Point Management Systems (CPMSs). Our hope is that all Charge Point Operators will sign up to the charter, and work to its principles as closely as possible, whilst other industry players will join together to help CPOs overcome barriers to delivering the charter.

This is an initial proposal, shaped by our own research amongst 200 EV drivers, and backed by the REA – the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology. We hope to form a working group with other industry players to refine this and present it back to the wider industry as a set of shared principles that we collectively believe everyone should sign up to.

Why is this important?

As EV charging has become more mainstream, it has become increasingly clear that current payment solutions are contributing to a poor user experience. Our recent survey found that every single EV driver has experienced payment problems with charging, from having to download apps they didn’t want, to having a card rejected, to waiting days for pre-authorisation fees to be reversed.

Some problems are due to a lack of common standards and interoperability, but many are due to variations between public chargers which are fine individually but confusing collectively. The industry needs to solve these problems collectively, in order to offer a robust and universal charging experience, where users trust that they can turn up anywhere and pay in the way they want. That will lead to more overall EV drivers and happier customers.

This initiative is supported by

The Association for Renewable Energy & Clean Technology supports this charter as part of their ongoing mission to accelerate the UK’s transition to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.

What we’re proposing:

Based on our research and conversations with the industry around what drivers want, we propose the following charter for public EV charge points:

• Ensure live pricing, including dynamic pricing, is clearly displayed on the charger, and/or nearby signage or payment terminal and in any associated app (wherever possible).
• Display pricing in kWh rates, alongside any associated fees (incl. parking and overstay), and upper price caps, ensuring all drivers can easily view the charger’s kilowatt output, and the ‘pump price’ in kWh to enable easy comparison.
• Integrate any additional fees into a single transaction.
• Pre-booking, if offered, should lock in the displayed rate.

• Standardise payment methods across all charge points to accept major credit/debit cards, mobile payments, and app-based payments.
• Design backend payment processing software to easily integrate new options, such as smart parking terminals or POS devices in manned or unattended kiosks or shops.
• Enhance terminal resilience (e.g., screen durability).
• Ensure clear and consistent labelling (e.g., RFID vs. contactless symbols).

• Enhance hardware and software integration to handle offline transactions securely, minimise app updates, and ensure devices handle PIN challenges.
• Provide backup payment options such as pay-by-text, QR codes and manned helplines.

• Clearly display any pre-authorisation amounts before charging begins.
• Implement incremental authorisation and immediate reversal of pre-authorisations to avoid large fees or long holding periods.
• Longer term, collaborate with government agencies to classify EV charging as critical infrastructure. This would help eliminate the need for large pre-authorisations and PIN entry, like the streamlined payment process used for suburban public transit.

• Provide an option to obtain digital receipts for completed charging sessions.
• Ensure bank statement descriptor clearly reflects the CPO used.

How Paythru can help

Paythru wants to be part of this solution. Our software can help in many cases. It can sit in the cloud, between the charge point and driver, and resolve problems such as managing multi-party payment splits or integrating third party payment options. In other areas we can help but cannot do it alone. Many areas must be led by CPOs themselves, some will need close collaboration with banks. We can only do this by through all the different players coming together.

The heart of this problem is not the technology. It is collaboration and leadership. To create a coherent system, we need to all work together to agree the best way to do things for everyone, and all buy in to that. If we as an industry don’t regulate ourselves in the interest of the customers, sooner or later governments will step in and tell us what to do. It’s better that we – the people who know the industry – lead the charge and show customers we care.