Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1433519
14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 DECEMBER 2021 NEWS MANY people in Europe would like to be able to charge their electric vehicle (EV) at public charging stations and to pay with their own bank card. More than two-thirds of the re- spondents confirm this in a re- cent study conducted by infas quo GmbH on behalf of the In- itiative Deutsche Zahlungssys- teme e.V. in selected European countries. Currently, payment options at charging stations across Eu- rope are still dominated by pro- prietary, closed loop payment solutions from charging sta- tion operators and local elec- tricity providers - spontaneous payment by common debit and credit cards is often not possi- ble. With the Alternative Fu- els Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), the European Parlia- ment now has it in its hands to meet the interest of European citizens in easily accessible and non-discriminatory payment solutions for electric charging in legislation. Attitudes to card payments are similar across borders To obtain a balanced picture of consumers' payment prefer- ences across Europe, the sur- vey was conducted in various European countries of diverse banking and payment infra- structures (France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Slove- nia, and Sweden). If consum- ers were able to make a free choice at the charging station, a clear majority in all the coun- tries surveyed, would prefer to pay the amount due for elec- tric charging with their bank card, or the debit or credit card stored in their smartphone. At 91 percent, Greece has the highest approval ratings. But the will of the consumer is al- so clear in France and Poland (89 percent each), Slovenia (83 percent), the Netherlands (79 percent), Germany (78 per- cent), and Sweden (67 percent). Uniform payment solutions throughout Europe will make a decisive contribution to the acceptance of e-mobility The market potential for e-mobility is huge: a very large number of respondents are al- ready planning to buy an elec- tric vehicle. Poland and Greece are at the forefront here. There, 77 percent and 75 percent, re- spectively, are planning to buy a new or used EV. In all the oth- er countries surveyed, approval is also at more than 50 percent in each case. However, without uniform and easily accessible payment solutions, traveling through Europe by electric ve- hicle is currently much more difficult than with convention- al combustion cars. Spontane- ous charging is almost impossi- ble. For widespread acceptance of e-mobility, however, electric refueling has to be as easily ac- cessible and consumer-friendly as normal refueling. Actively promoting this acceptance is an important step toward achiev- ing the Paris climate targets. Future EV owners firmly ex- pect to use public charging sta- tions. Especially in the Nether- lands (76 percent) and Slovenia (76 percent), but also in Ger- many (71 percent), Poland (70 percent), Sweden (67 percent), France (55 percent) and Greece (24 percent), future EV drivers plan to stop at public charging stations. They want to be able to rely on a well-developed net- work, as they are already used to from the conventional gas station infrastructure, without being dependent on one charg- ing service provider. AFIR: A solution for Europe The majority of the surveyed European countries consider an EU-wide regulation to be useful that ensures the accept- ance of contactless payment with at least one common deb- it or credit card at every new charging point. The biggest supporters are citizens from Greece (81 percent) and Ger- many, the Netherlands, and Slovenia (76 percent each), followed by Poland (71 per- cent), France, and Sweden (65 percent each). The European Commission has now recog- nized that payment at charging stations is an important aspect in the expansion of a cross-bor- der, consumer-friendly charg- ing infrastructure. The new Alternative Fuels Infrastruc- ture Regulation (AFIR) is in- tended, among other things, to simplify payment at European charging stations, thus bring- ing with it the opportunity to make the payment process as simple as possible for consum- ers. After all, the current chaos of payment schemes, including apps, RFID charging cards, and credit accounts, is making the switch to e-mobility more diffi- cult for consumers and making them feel very insecure. The course in Germany has already been set by the leg- islator In Germany, the federal gov- ernment has followed the wish- es of its citizens. The amended German charging station reg- ulation will come into force in 2023 and will regulate by law the mandatory acceptance of debit and credit cards at pub- lic charging stations. Freedom of choice when paying is im- portant to very important to 78 percent of the future EV drivers surveyed in Germany. In this context, 79 percent pre- fer to pay at charging stations using their familiar girocard (German debit card) or cred- it card - physically or digitally on their smartphone. Having your own bank card enables secure, consumer-friendly and non-discriminatory payment at the charging station without prior registration with a charg- ing service provider. By con- trast, respondents in Germany give a thumbs-down to sepa- rate apps and QR codes: Only five percent find paying the bill with an RFID card or charging app with prior registration and billing by the electricity pro- vider attractive. Only a further seven percent want to pay by scanning a QR code with their smartphone and entering pay- ment data via a mobile website at charging points. The amend- ment of the German charg- ing station regulation could point the way for this decision and provide a practicable and cross-border applicable prob- lem-solving approach for the whole of Europe. The survey results clearly show: consumers in Europe want to be able to pay at charg- ing stations with common deb- it or credit cards – as plastic card or digital version in their smartphone – in the future. With the new Alternative Fu- els Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), the EU now has the opportunity to meet the desire for freedom of choice and eas- ily accessible payment options at charging stations. The study The results are based on a representative online survey conducted by infas quo GmbH on behalf of the Initiative Deutsche Zahlungssysteme among motor vehicle owners aged 18 and over in Septem- ber 2021 in Germany (1,058 people) and November 2021 in France (538 people), Greece (535 people), the Netherlands (514 people), Poland (529 peo- ple), Slovenia (538 people) and Sweden (535 people). The countries surveyed differed in particular in their location in Europe as well as the spread of e-mobility and their banking and payment infrastructures. Europeans want to be able to use bank cards at public EV charging stations