Parkstrom: Finally charge with cash or credit card

The discussions are long and sometimes tedious. In December 2020, the German federal government once again invited stakeholders to a top-level discussion about the expansion of the charging infrastructure in Germany. Federal Transport Minister Scheuer and Federal Economic Minister Altmaier discussed with representatives from the energy industry, municipal companies, and the automotive industry how access to charging infrastructure can be simplified. It was reaffirmed, among other things, that there must be a uniform, user-friendly payment system for charging at charging stations in the future.

As a nationwide charging service provider, Parkstrom welcomes this initiative and refers to already existing and established direct payment systems. Managing Director Stefan Pagenkopf-Martin explains:

"From practice and through contact with our customers, we know that access to charging infrastructure represents a hurdle for many operators and e-mobilists. The use and billing of charging electricity must be as simple and barrier-free as refueling and paying at conventional gas stations. Direct payment systems, such as Giro-e, already meet these requirements and have long proven themselves in practice."

Direct payment systems enable access to charging infrastructure for all e-mobilists

Immediate payment of the charging process at the charging station, known as Direct Payment, is a solution to reduce existing barriers in the use of charging infrastructure. As one of the first charging service providers, Parkstrom has been offering charging systems with the innovative direct payment system Giro-e since 2018.

Giro-e was developed by GLS Bank and enables the activation and payment of a charging process with any contactless Giro card from a German banking institution, without a contract. A transparent, kWh-accurate billing occurs quite simply a few days later via the bank account – just like any ordinary card payment – with the small but significant difference that an invoice can be retrieved and downloaded via a link in the transaction details. With currently more than 75 million contactless Giro cards in circulation in Germany (tendency rising), direct payment systems are thus the potentially most open access system to charging infrastructure. Charging infrastructure producers have already recognized the potential. More and more manufacturers are offering Giro-e compatible charging stations or developing new direct payment systems for the market.

Interesting background: The operating costs for backend software are continuously rising: the operation of charging infrastructure is thereby becoming significantly more expensive and direct payment is becoming even more attractive. Many customers also prefer to pay with their bank cards, as fuel bills are also settled. Pagenkopf-Martin therefore demands:

"The feedback from our customers is clear: direct payment systems make the operation of charging infrastructure easier and significantly simplify access to the charging station. The bank card simply becomes the charging card. The elimination of roaming fees also provides attractive price advantages for charging infrastructure operators and their customers. We expect the government to strengthen already existing, sensible alternatives such as billing via the contactless Giro card with regulatory measures."

Operators of charging infrastructure are also facing steadily increasing costs for the backend system. The backend is typically a cloud-based software that enables authentication, management, and billing of charging processes, as well as interfaces for roaming. When these costs remain within an economically reasonable range, the attractiveness of the charging infrastructure increases for both operators and users. Stefan Pagenkopf-Martin warns:

“Many companies do not consider the later operation when installing charging infrastructure. The operator model, the associated effort, and the costs from the operator's perspective are crucial, also for the refinancing of investments. There are several levers that massively influence the economic efficiency of the charging infrastructure. Therefore, we are currently actively working on cost-effective operator software solutions.”

What does that mean?

The charging infrastructure primarily suffers from the payment system: gas stations would have the same problem if each issued its own fuel card. What works for fleets with fixed routes would be uninteresting for private users! Therefore, fuel card providers are increasingly opening up to market companions through cooperation. Accordingly, the approach is correct to ideally manage charging options in the “frontend” through banks as well.