If payment by bank card for a full tank of fuel has become widespread, the same is not necessarily the case with an electric refill. Sometimes a credential is necessary, it is necessary to use your smartphone by scanning a QR code… many charging points do not allow you to pay easily by card.
Starting this Saturday, April 13, 2024, operators of charging stations for electric cars must install an electronic payment terminal (EPT) in all new terminals that offer charging with a power greater than 50 kW.
France thus applies the European Afir regulation (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation), adopted in July 2023. A good signal sent after the milestone of 100,000 public charging points reached in May 2023.
These terminals currently represent 14% of the network, according to the latest monthly barometer from Avere-France, the national association for the development of electric mobility, or just over 18,000 charging points.
The “retrofit” of the existing network by 2027
Therefore, we should not expect a big change for users, especially on highways, where terminals already offer card payment.
“The motorway companies impose it and public aid was conditional on the presence of a payment terminal, so this will not constitute a drastic change in this sector. The most interesting thing will be the next step,” he explains to the Journal de Automobile. Clément Molizon, general delegate of Avere-France.
Charging stations will be required to equip charging stations over 50 kW installed before this date of April 13, 2024 with a payment terminal by 2027.
Some networks anticipated this measure
The operator Powerdot anticipated this measure by equipping part of its already operated terminals with a payment terminal. Starting next week, 52 sites will have operational VSEs out of a total of 713 in France. By the end of the year, with 525 sites equipped, almost three quarters of the Powerdot network will accept this card payment directly at the terminal.
A necessity with the democratization of electric vehicles, in particular with the implementation of social leasing, as explained by Matthieu Dischamps, CEO of Powerdot France, quoted in a press release.
“Given this change in uses and audiences, we have launched pilot projects in certain European Powerdot markets, for example in Spain, where we have begun to install payment terminals, and in Poland we see that this new use is taking shape little by little. . , we installed our first payment terminals in July 2023 and a third of our stations are now equipped with this payment method, which already represents a third of our charging sessions.
An evolution that also reflects the need for greater transparency in charging prices and a general lack of information on the part of electric vehicle users.
Source: BFM TV
