Norway has introduced new regulations mandating that charging infrastructure operators offer card payment options at newly installed fast charging stations, effective from July 1st. While retrofitting existing charging stations is not currently obligatory, policymakers are discussing the possibility.
The Ministry of Transport has clarified that this rule applies initially to stations with a minimum capacity of 50 kW that were ordered after July 1st. Importantly, the term “ordered” does not refer to installations, meaning it may take several weeks or even months for the newly ordered charging stations to be equipped with the mandatory payment terminals. The Ministry has not provided details about the technical specifications of the payment terminals in their brief statement.
Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård emphasizes the importance of well-developed and user-friendly charging infrastructure to encourage more people to choose electric cars. He points out that the current charging options, often limited to specific apps or RFID cards, can be unnecessarily complex for users. To address this, the government has made it compulsory for all new charging points to accept bank card payments for electric vehicle charging.
Existing payment methods, such as charging cards and apps, will still be viable options. A survey conducted among Norwegian electric car drivers revealed that 87 percent of respondents, who were already utilizing charging cards and apps, believed that paying with a card should be possible when fast charging.
The Electric Car Association of Norway has expressed its approval of the newly introduced requirement, stating that it will make life easier for electric car drivers and reduce barriers to choosing electric vehicles. The Norwegian parliament has also demanded that the obligation to accept card payments be extended to existing fast charging stations by the end of 2025.
Last year, Recharge announced that it would be the first major operator to integrate card payment terminals at its charging stations in Scandinavia, starting with Norway. In Germany, the deadline for mandatory implementation of credit card terminals at charging points has been postponed by one year to July 1st, 2024, as reported earlier.
