ChargePoint partners with Cariqa to maximise utilisation for charge point operators

ChargePoint has announced a partnership with Cariqa, a European direct payments infrastructure provider. Building on the existing payment options of the be.Energised platform, the partnership enables charging businesses to offer customers a simple way to start and pay for a charging session. 

Drivers scan a QR code, choose their preferred payment method – including Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit card or PayPal – and start charging. No app download, account registration or charging card is required, and the experience can be fully customised in the charge point operators (CPOs) own brand. This helps create a consistent experience for drivers while reducing drop offs at the point of charge.

‘As the European charging market matures, operators are increasingly focused on getting more value out of their equipment. By offering Cariqa through be.Energised, we are giving them another way to reach drivers and monetise their network. It is about offering more options and more opportunities, without charging businesses having to build payment infrastructure themselves. An open platform should make growth easier, and that is exactly what this does,’ said Rick Wilmer, CEO, ChargePoint.

Beyond the ad-hoc experience at the charge point itself, this partnership also opens up an entirely new direct sales channel. It includes exposure to Cariqa’s expanding network of ‘demand partners’ such as A Better Routeplanner, Chargeprice, Here Technologies, TariffEV, and other charging apps that reach millions of EV drivers. For CPOs, this means access to a much wider pool of drivers – both through Cariqa’s demand partner network and walk up drivers – without giving up control over the driver relationship, pricing and visibility.

As demand for convenient ad-hoc payment at public chargers grows, CPOs need a solution that works out of the box. Cariqa handles payment processing, pre-authorisation, fraud protection, and driver support, giving charge point operators a turnkey way to offer contract free charging without diverting resources from their core business.

‘We built Cariqa to remove friction across the entire CPO business and give them more reach without giving up commercial control. The CPO sets the price, and the driver pays that price whether they charge directly at the station or through one of our demand partners. With be.Energised, we can bring this additional direct sales channel to thousands of charge points across Europe, making payments simpler for drivers while giving CPOs a direct, scalable way to reach more customers,’ said Tamara Ciullo, co-founder and CCO at Cariqa.

Initial rollout markets include Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Supported payment methods may vary by market at launch.