Charging payment Study 2026

Charging Payment Study

Open loop or closed loop: usage habits regarding payment methods at charging stations, willingness to change and pay extra

The study surveys the experiences and usage preferences of EV drivers with different payment methods and possible interactions between payment methods and other criteria such as willingness to pay.

The four most important payment methods were examined

  • Charging app
  • Charging card / RFID chip
  • Plug & Charge / Autocharge
  • and various implementation variants for direct payment (ad hoc)

Other key areas of the study:

  • Correlation between price and payment method
  • Deep dive into barriers to use for Plug&Charge
  • Interest in other innovative payment methods
  • Expectations regarding receipt generation, charging history and invoicing

The study shows providers who is open to which payment methods and what arguments can be used to reach these customers.

Study Excerpt Germany

CONTENTS AND ADDED VALUE OF THE Charging Payment STUDY

Contents of the Charging Payment Study

Segmentation characteristics:

  • Socio-demographic data (age, gender, income)
  • Living situation (town size, type of house)
  • Driving habits (car brand, company car (including coverage of charging costs and fleet size), mileage per year and per weekday)
  • Charging locations, charging routine, preferred charging services, charging station search
  • Payment behaviour in retail and online purchases, bonus programmes used

Closed-loop payment methods:

  • Satisfaction (overall payment experience, ease of use when paying, variety of payment methods offered, price transparency before charging, invoicing, receipt generation)
  • Perception of closed-loop payment methods (plug & charge/auto charge, charging card/chip, charging app) vs. direct payment without registration
  • Payment method usage behaviour (current usage, previously used, never used)
  • Detailed evaluation of all payment methods in terms of
    • Operation
    • Convenience
    • Reliability
    • Availability
    • Cost control
    • Prices
    • Price transparency
    • Perceived loyalty
  • Preferred payment method
  • Criteria for choosing the preferred payment method

Deep dive into Plug & Charge:

  • Awareness of PnC, PnC capability of own vehicle, PnC contract included in purchase, PnC activated in own vehicle
  • Evaluation of PnC setup and activation
  • Relevance of PnC for next car purchase and decision for charging service
  • Reasons for low PnC usage

Open-loop payment methods:

  • Perception of open-loop payment methods (contactless credit/debit/giro card, smartphone & payment app, credit/debit/giro card & PIN pad, smartphone & QR code, smartphone on mobile phone bill)
  • Usage behaviour of open-loop payment methods (current usage, previously used, never used)
  • Detailed assessment of all open-loop payment methods with regard to
    • Operation
    • Convenience
    • Reliability
    • Availability
    • Cost control
    • Prices
    • Price transparency
    • Perceived loyalty
  • Criteria for choosing the preferred payment method
  • Preference for price displays

Deep dive pre-authorisation:

  • Awareness Pre-authorisation
  • Acceptable reserved amount
  • Expected time for release of reserved amount after charging is complete

Relationship between payment method and willingness to pay (CONJOINT):

  • Conjoint characteristics:
    • Price (0.60–0.67 in 1p increments)
    • Means of payment (credit/debit/debit card, PayPal, Google/Apple Pay)
    • Payment method (plug & charge, charging card, charging app, direct payment)
  • General attention to price differences

Innovative payment methods:

  • Digital charging card:
    • Awareness
    • Perception Added value
    • Perceived benefits (even with limited use)
    • Requirement for analogue charging card with digital charging card
    • Preferred storage location for digital charging card
  • Multi-contract function in the head unit:
    • Perception of multi-contract function for direct payment
    • Perceived advantages of multi-contract function
  • Charging from the navigation app:
    • Perception of charging from the navigation app
    • Perceived advantages of charging from the navigation app

Document creation / Charging history / Invoice:

  • Relevance of receipt, charging history, invoice
  • Preferred format for receipt, charging history, invoice
  • Reasons for requiring receipt, charging history, invoice
Target group of the survey

Only owners and drivers of electric vehicles who charge publicly were recruited.

Dashboard for analysis

Many exciting insights only become apparent when the results are evaluated separately for important customer groups. This allows providers to tailor their offerings to different user segments. Thanks to the large sample size, subscribers to the study can split the results as they wish in the interactive dashboard and analyse them in detail.

USCALE focus studies: User studies on electromobility

Since 2018, USCALE has been systematically surveying EV drivers about their expectations and experiences at all touchpoints of the e-mobile customer journey. You can find an overview of all USCALE focus studies HERE.

We show extracts from other studies in the LinkedIn articles by USCALE and Axel Sprenger, our company founder.

If you have any questions, please contact us at contact@uscale.digital.