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Charging stations must therefore have a card payment terminal so that ad hoc charging processes can be paid for with payment cards. This regulation will apply to all newly commissioned charging stations with a power of 50 kW or more as specified in the type examination certificate from the time the regulation comes into force. In addition, the AFIR regulation only applies to public or semi-public charging points. There is therefore initially no retrofitting obligation for existing charging infrastructure. However, this will follow from 2027 for charging points with an output of 50 kW or more that are located along the European TEN-T road network (TEN-V Interactive Map). In practice, AC charging stations are therefore virtually unaffected by the AFIR regulation. The situation is different for DC charging stations in public areas. CPOs need solutions for this in order to be able to operate new charging infrastructure in a legally compliant manner from 13 April 2024.

In fact, there are already some CPOs that have equipped their charging infrastructure with payment terminals. These are often so-called "integrated" payment terminals, i.e. those that are integrated into the local firmware of the charging stations. Unfortunately, there are numerous disadvantages associated with this. The "stand-alone solution" developed by chargecloud and Hectronic takes a different approach. This uses a payment terminal that is connected to the existing charge point management system (chargecloud). This means that the stand-alone solution fits perfectly into existing e-mobility processes. Why this is the case and what advantages the "stand-alone solution" developed jointly with Hectronic offers is explained below.

Hectronic Hec Pay

That's why the joint solution from chargecloud and Hectronic is the best way to fulfil the payment terminal obligation

In order to provide our customers with the best possible support in fulfilling the new AFIR regulation, we have entered into a partnership with Hectronic. The experienced medium-sized company from the Black Forest manufactures, among other things, payment terminals specially developed for electromobility, which function as a "stand-alone solution". The terminals are directly integrated into the Mennekes Smart T PnC Ladesäulen or also available as a physically separate column. What both have in common, however, is that they are always controlled via the charge point management system and not via the firmware of the charging station itself.

The physically separate pedestal can be used to operate any number of charging points. One terminal is sufficient for new construction projects and existing charging infrastructure can be retrofitted with just one device. The special feature of the "stand-alone solution" developed jointly with Hectronic is that it is currently the only solution available on the market that demonstrably complies with calibration law. There are also other decisive advantages.

The "integrated" terminals are designed for operation within the charging stations. In other words, a proprietary approach was taken with this solution. This means that the "integrated" terminal only works with the charging station in which it is integrated. Each proprietary terminal model must also be individually integrated into a charge point management system. In contrast, the "stand-alone payment terminal" from Hectronic is hardware-agnostic. This means that compatibility is not linked to a specific manufacturer, but works with all charging stations available on the market. It is even possible to control models from different manufacturers at one location with just one Hectronic payment terminal. At chargecloud, we guarantee compatibility with all certified charging station models.
 

Hectronic's hardware-agnostic payment terminals offer even more advantages. In contrast to integrated terminals, the complexity of the product logic can be fully mapped. With integrated terminals, the price of charging processes is calculated in the charging station itself. To do this, the tariffs for ad-hoc charging processes must first be maintained individually at each charging station using a configuration command. This is often done via a separate payment backend or, in some cases, can only be done on site. There is a risk that different tariffs are installed at the various charging stations or that bugs in the charging station firmware lead to incorrect price calculations. In addition, the complexity of the tariffs can often not be realised with the "integrated" solution. For example, it is often simply not possible to set price caps or suspend blocking fees at night. With the stand-alone solution developed jointly by chargecloud and Hectronic, tariff changes and price calculation continue to take place centrally via chargecloud as usual.
 

The charging processes paid for at Hectronic terminals also flow seamlessly into the accounting system. While with "integrated" payment terminals the generated ad-hoc revenue flows into an additional sub-ledger, with Hectronic's "stand-alone version" the ad-hoc revenue is recognised in the same sub-ledger (with chargecloud: booking folder) as the revenue from contract customers.

System consistency not only pleases the CPOs themselves, but also the auditors. This is because many "integrated" terminals do not generate receipts. However, the auditors would like to see these. Another advantage that pleases both CPOs and auditors is that tariffing, price calculation and accounting take place in one system - chargecloud. This further increases traceability. "Integrated" terminals offer too many sources of error, such as rounding errors, bugs or different firmware versions between the stations, which tend to lead to chaos.

Another advantage of the Hectronic "stand-alone solution" is that it is also compatible with the chargecloud site partner product. CPOs that take over the operation and service of charging stations on behalf of third parties (location partners) can automatically set a percentage reimbursement of ad hoc charging processes to the location partner. "Integrated" terminals do not send any information about cash flows to the chargecloud, which means that any refunds to the location partners can only be made manually with a great deal of effort.

Finally, it should not go unmentioned that many "integrated" terminals only allow contactless payments. Even if these are very user-friendly - present the card and you're done - it should not go unmentioned that a certain percentage of payments cannot be authorised. This is because users of an EC card with a contactless function are asked to enter their PIN for security reasons for around one in five payments. With payment terminals without a PIN pad, this is simply not possible and the payment is rejected. The Hectronic payment terminal is therefore deliberately equipped with a PIN pad to enable all legitimate payments.

The Hectronic payment terminals can be easily ordered via the chargecloud Marketplace. We also support our customers with commissioning.