Electric vehicle charging solutions specialist Rubicon has upgraded 21 of its most popular DC fast-charging stations with new card machines offering tap-to-pay functionality for its users.
According to Hilton Musk, head of e-mobility at Rubicon, the solution was developed in collaboration with Visa, EFT Corporation and Verifone.
“The idea is to move to card as the standard payment mechanism at our charging stations. We want to ease the process of buying an EV and relieve the range anxiety people might feel by making it possible for them to pay in multiple different ways,” said Musk.
“In time, we look forward to adding other payment methods, including rewards programme points and even cryptocurrencies.”
The move by Rubicon also aims to drive up EV adoption by removing an administrative barrier to entry. In the past, the only way to pay at Rubicon stations was to use a branded radio frequency identification (RFID) card linked to a digital top-up wallet. Users would either get the card after registering with Rubicon or through the manufacturer of their vehicle when purchasing the car.
Musk said users would arrive at charging stations and call customer support complaining that their card was not working, only to find that the user was referring to their bank card and not the Rubicon-issued card.
“People naturally want to pay through their app or bank card, so we have made it easier for them to do that,” said Musk.
Google Pay, Apple Pay
Payment methods supported include tokenised payment apps such as Google Pay and Apple Pay, as well as physical debit and credit cards. The current phase of the roll-out aims to complete 53 installations with DC charging stations taking priority, with AC charging stations following suit.
According to Musk, the rationale behind targeting the faster DC charging stations is first to do with their popularity, since the largest number of Rubicon users will benefit from the newly added payment functionality at these sites.
Read: We drove five electric cars across South Africa – a photo essay
“The AC sites will be last because they only get about 10% of the utilisation of the DC charging stations,” he said.
The hardware used by Rubicon chargers is imported either from China or Europe, but the software running the machines is proprietary.
Musk said the charging stations can be ordered with payment hardware integrated into the machine. However, the service providers who support those built-in systems do not operate in South Africa.
By building a proprietary solution, Rubicon has gained a few advantages that an integrated solution does not offer. Firstly, the payment system being separate means one terminal can be linked to more than one charging station. At some facilities, up to three charging stations are catered to buy one payment terminal. This is possible because there is no physical link between a terminal and a charging station – the connection is made using software in the cloud.
Secondly, Rubicon found South Africa was not the only country where integrated payment terminals are either not supported or are undesirable. The company is now in talks with service providers in the Middle East to help design similar solutions for those markets.
Read: Every electric car you can buy in South Africa right now – with pricing
According to Musk, one advantage the older Rubicon branded RFID cards have over bank cards is they allow customers with a positive balance to charge even when the payment terminal does not have an internet connection, something Rubicon aims to enable card payments to do, too.
“There is a way around it and now that the technology is on site, it allows us to start exploring these avenues and figure out how we continue to improve by addressing these pain points and making it easier to pay in any scenario,” said Musk. — © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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