Payments: A hidden roadblock to EV adoption

Refuelling a vehicle has always been a simple process. Pull up to the pump, swipe or tap your card, fill up, and you’re on your way. No apps to download, no accounts to set up, no clunky authentication. Just pay and away.  

But it’s a very different story when it comes to EV charging. The proliferation of different charging networks has created a fragmented and inconsistent experience for EV owners. And it has become, quite frankly, a bit of a nightmare.  

A paradox of progress

There are a number of ways EVs add value to the lives of their owners; they require less maintenance, they are cheaper to run, they offer a quieter and smoother ride, and they provide the convenience of at-home charging.

Unfortunately, the challenges begin when EV owners need to charge their vehicles outside of the home and face the frustration of having to juggle multiple apps, accounts, and payment methods to perform what should be a simple task.

I’ll break the challenges down:

Payment fragmentation

Unlike fuel pumps, which have standard tap and PIN payment terminals, EV charging stations are not standardised and come with their own apps and account set-ups. This is especially frustrating if the charging station requires an app that the EV owner does not have.

In a survey conducted by consumer champion, ‘Which?’ of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners who have used the UK’s public charging network, a quarter found the payment methods on offer inconvenient, and 85% said they would prefer to pay by contactless bank or debit card, even though most charging points require payment through an app.

“The infrastructure is dismal. It should be as easy to charge a car as it is to buy petrol. It is infinitely more complex with different systems, paying methods, limited access and non-functioning chargers.”

Poor app experiences

Most public EV chargers require a mobile app to initiate and pay for session. If an EV owner does not have the required app, there is additional time needed to download it and set up an account, turning what should be a quick process into a convoluted and time-consuming exercise.

“One charger wanted me to use an app and would not accept just a credit card. I did not have the app and (had) low signal, so couldn’t download it.”

Source: Which?

Another survey of 200 EV owners conducted by Paythru in partnership with The EV Café revealed similar problems, with 87% of respondents saying they have had to download a new app at the charging point at least once in order to pay, and 80% have faced app payment problems.

More than half (56%) have had their card rejected, while 45% of drivers said they have had to phone up to make a payment, and 61% have left the charge point because of unacceptable payment options.

Complexity leads to risk

While these customer experience challenges are highly inconvenient, they aren’t the only issues EV owners face because as we know, when there is complexity, there is always opportunity for fraud.

EV charge points have also become a playing field for scammers who use a range of methods to commit fraud. A recent article talks to the very high breach rates occurring within EV charging businesses with 82% experiencing IoT-related security incidents in the past year. Fraudsters are exploiting vulnerabilities in the interconnected EV charging ecosystem, stealing personal and payment information, physical tampering, and compromising RFID cards.

But fraud can take other forms. In Australia, EV fast charging provider, Evie has had to change its payment protocols due to many drivers committing fraud to avoid paying. Evie experienced significant levels of transaction declines under its old payment protocols and was often unable to secure payment despite kilowatt hours being delivered to EV customers.

“We found that while most payment declines were accidental, there was a significant proportion of declines that were intentional, with drivers committing fraud to avoid payment.”

Fixing the trust gap

The charging experience was meant to make EV ownership more attractive. Instead, it has become one of the biggest impediments to adoption. Drivers have lost trust in a clunky, inconsistent experience, and operators are losing revenue. These challenges are widely reported and undoubtedly pose a risk to the growth of EV ownership.

So, what if payments just worked?

It sounds so simple, and that’s because it really is. Why shouldn’t paying for an EV charging station be as simple as a card tap? Why does there need to be so much complexity? The short answer is, there doesn’t.

With Burbank’s Card-Present over Internet® (CPoI®), EV charging can be as simple, safe, and seamless as tapping a card at the pump. In fact, it can be even more so because it eliminates the need for payments hardware altogether. With a simple scan of a QR code, CPoI® enables EV owners to securely pay by simply tapping their card against their own phone to make payment.

And for EV charger operators, CPoI® means fewer declines, less fraud, and more reliable revenue.

The future of EV mobility depends on trust, simplicity, and interoperability. As the sector matures, payments must evolve from an afterthought to an enabler. With innovations like CPoI®, we can make “tap to charge” as universal as “tap to pay”, paving the way for frictionless, fraud-free, and future-proof EV charging everywhere.