Why EV charging billing flexibility is no longer optional

EV charging operators manage users across a range of contract types, each with its own billing logic and expectations. Moving users between contract types (particularly from top-up to pay-as-you-go) creates a structural friction point: what happens to the funds already loaded into a user's wallet?

The Credit Mechanism applies to all pay-as-you-go users with a wallet balance, regardless of where those funds originated. A driver might carry a balance from a top-up or a previous billing model. In each case, the mechanism works the same way: the wallet is drawn first, and any remaining session cost is billed through the standard payment method. Contract transitions are one scenario where this becomes particularly important - a driver might start on a prepaid plan for budget predictability and later be migrated to pay-as-you-go as a CPO updates its product offering. For the operator, this creates an obligation they would like to honour, since the drivers who paid upfront expect those funds to remain available - regardless of the billing model they are moved into.

Without a structured mechanism to handle these balances, operators face manual reconciliation, forced refunds, or silent fund losses. Each of these increases operational overhead and, more critically, weakens driver trust at exactly the moment an operator is asking users to change how they pay. CPO billing models that lack this kind of continuity risk disrupting active user bases and undermining the value of loyalty.

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What this means for CPO billing models

The Credit Mechanism introduces a structured layer of EV charging billing flexibility that sits at the contract type level. It allows pay-as-you-go users to draw from an existing wallet balance when paying for charging sessions - a capability that was previously unavailable to pay-as-you-go users.

This matters across several common operational scenarios:

• No refunds or write-offs: Operators migrating users from top-up contracts to pay-as-you-go can do so without issuing refunds or writing off existing balances.
• Automated credit consumption: Top-ups can be distributed and consumed automatically, with no manual intervention between sessions.
• Clean partial-balance handling: Sessions are resolved cleanly - the wallet covers what it can, and the remaining amount flows to the standard payment method.
• Configurable per contract type: Operators retain precise control over which user groups can access wallet funds for charging.

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How the Credit Mechanism works in practice

When a pay-as-you-go user initiates a charging session, Ocean checks the account's EV charging wallet balance first. If the balance fully covers the session cost, it is deducted from the wallet. If the balance is insufficient, it is applied first, and the remaining amount is automatically billed through the user's standard payment method (typically with a linked payment card).

The mechanism is configured at the contract type level. Operators enable or disable wallet usage for pay-as-you-go accounts directly in Ocean, making it possible to scope the feature to specific user groups, contract migrations, or promotional periods.

When a user migrates from a prepaid contract to a pay-as-you-go contract, any remaining wallet balance is preserved and remains visible to both operators in Ocean and to drivers in the EV charging app. Please note: while pay-as-you-go users can view their wallet balance and use it toward charging sessions, they are not able to top up their wallet themselves. Top-ups for pay-as-you-go users can only be performed by operators through the Ocean portal.

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What the Credit Mechanism means for your billing operations

For operators managing large, active user bases, the Credit Mechanism reduces the administrative overhead of shifting billing models and creates a more predictable, consistent payment experience for drivers.

For our partners, this translates into:

• Smooth transitions from prepaid to pay-as-you-go EV charging, without manual fund reconciliation or driver-facing disruption
• Configurable wallet activation at the contract type level, giving operators precise control over where and when credits apply
• Full operator visibility into remaining balances after contract changes, through the Ocean CRM