As we adjust to living in a world forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand for experiences that are both seamless and cashless continues to explode. According to the recent Capgemini World Payments Report 2021, by 2025, instant payments and e-money payments will account for more than 25% of global non-cash transactions, up from 14.5% in 2020. Nearly 45% of consumers now frequently (over 20 times a year) use mobile wallets to make payments. That’s a 20% increase on the previous year’s poll.
Driving EV adoption
The world is now acutely aware of the need to dramatically change our behaviour to reduce global warming. The COP 26 goal of global net-zero by 2050, limiting global warming to within 1.5 degrees, is ambitious, but essential. What we do now will shape our planet forever. Every consumer and every business needs to adapt.
Finance, and specifically cashless mobile payment, can drive transformative change. In particular, a smart seamless payment experience for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging and parking offers the potential to both drive EV adoption and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the UK.
The ability to locate convenient parking that also offers reliable, simple charging for electric vehicles is fundamental to the UK’s efforts to move our society away from traditionally fuelled vehicles to emissions-free public and private transport.
Legislative pressure
New legislation is poised to make a dramatic impact. Sales of all new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from 2030. From 2022, all new homes and new buildings in England will be required by law to install electric vehicle charging points. This includes new supermarkets, workplaces and buildings undergoing major renovations.
The way we perceive electric vehicles is changing, with EVs (both battery-electric and hybrid) now accounting for 10% of all new car registrations in 2021. But the missing piece of the adoption jigsaw remains the nationwide need for charging infrastructure. All stakeholders are keen to embrace electric vehicles, but need a viable parking and recharging network if they are to make urban EV journeys viable, efficient and emissions-free.
Reinventing parking settings
Fortunately, as high streets and town centres struggle to recover from the impact of the pandemic, savvy councils and car park operators are realising the business potential of providing EV charging in their now under-utilised parking settings.
At the same time, demand is escalating from business fleets, logistics providers and charge point operators. The World Economic Forum forecasts that 75% of EVs on the road by 2025 will be fleet delivery vehicles.
As the push for new infrastructure gains traction, for both operators and drivers alike, it is the cashless, seamless parking and EV charging payment experience that is an essential enabler for UK EV adoption at scale.
As the Capgemini World Payments Report 2021 states; “Fast forward to the new era, Payments 4.X, an experience-driven environment in which payments firms are profitably shaking things up even more by swapping out once-typical engagement practices for value-added experiences”.
At Paythru we are already proving that digital transformation and smart payment technology can quickly overcome the operational and behavioural challenges surrounding parking and EV charging. A seamless and worry-free experience for customers is entirely possible. Locating and pre-booking a parking space; ensuring charge point availability and compatibility; providing clear, accurate charging information and easy payment; and streaming operational data in real time – these and more are ensuring that range anxiety will no longer impede our move to a cleaner world. If you would like to talk more about the ways payment technology can support EV adoption, contact James O’Neill at j.oneill@paythru.com.
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