A better way to embed EV charging: New revenue, no markups

In the last piece, we explored why EV charging becomes a bottleneck for mobility platforms.

In practice, most platforms end up choosing between three paths:

1️⃣ Build everything themselves, taking on integrations, billing, tax, and compliance.

2️⃣ Use white‑label apps or embedded reseller networks, outsourcing the stack but accepting markeups, ongoing fees, and an undifferentiated experience.

3️⃣ Adopt managed service APIs, which look simpler, but still operate like reseller networks, adding another commercial layer which turns charging into a cost centre.

Whatever the route, charging ends up costing more for the platform and the driver.

So, what’s the alternative?

A different model: direct connection

Instead of building or outsourcing charging infrastructure, Cariqa Connect lets you connect directly to charge point operators (CPOs), while we handle the operational and commercial details behind the scenes. 

Rather than sitting between you and the charging network as a gatekeeper, Cariqa Connect creates a direct rail connecting your platform, and more importantly, your users, to CPOs.

Think about payments before Stripe: plugging payments into your product was complex, fragmented, and slow. Stripe didn’t change what payments are, it changed how easy they are to integrate.

Cariqa Connect does the same for EV charging.

It turns charging from a fragmented, operational drag into something you can integrate and run with minimal effort.

Two ways to integrate

Platforms can adopt this model in two ways:

• Connect Links: a low‑code, easy on‑ramp using secure web flows. You add our direct payment links, we handle the charging journey, while connecting drivers directly to CPO pricing
• Connect API: a more comprehensive integration, where charging lives inside your own product, and you control the UI and flow end‑to‑end

Whichever you choose:

• One integration connects directly to multiple CPOs, no reseller markups
• CPOs set the price, and that price flows through to your product unchanged
• Drivers start charging from your product and complete the session either through a hosted flow (Connect Links) or fully embedded (Connect API)

What used to take months of backend development, multiple integrations and ongoing operational overhead, now becomes something you can integrate quickly, scale easily, and trust without adding complexity to your product.

No markups: protect pricing, customer trust, and your brand

In reseller-led models, prices are reshaped before they reach your user.

What drivers see is your brand + a high price.

What they don’t see is the underlying structure, so they associate the inflated cost with your platform, assume you’re ripping them off, and completely lose trust in your brand.

By providing a direct-to-CPO connection:

• Prices flow 1:1 between the CPO and driver
• There are no reseller markups
• Drivers pay the CPO directly via Cariqa Connect

Which fundamentally changes how pricing is experienced by your users:

• Drivers see the same price the CPO sets, no markups
• Pricing remains consistent across channels, removing the need to question or compare alternatives
• Your platform is no longer associated with inflated costs, and trust is maintained rather than eroded 

Turn charging into a revenue stream

Today, most platforms pay to offer charging via per-transaction, per-user, and bundled API fees.

In other words, the more your drivers charge, the more you pay. 

Cariqa Connect reverses that model by:

• Removing per-user/transaction fees
• Enabling platforms to participate in revenue generated from charging sessions

This fundamentally changes the role charging plays; EV charging is no longer something you fund, it’s something you benefit from.

Charging that works like part of your product

Charging today often breaks the product experience. Drivers are pushed into different apps, accounts, and disjointed payment flows. 

Cariqa Connect makes charging a native, consistent part of your journey:

• Discovery, session start, and payment all begin from within your platform
• Drivers see transparent, CPO‑set pricing, no reseller markups
• The experience aligns with how users already interact with your product

And the impact goes beyond UX.

• You retain the customer relationship and data that comes with it
• Pricing and experience remain consistent, reinforcing trust over time
• Charging stops being a cost centre and becomes a new revenue stream

Aligned incentives across the ecosystem

What makes this model fundamentally different is that it aligns incentives across the ecosystem, whereas legacy models pit every stakeholder against one another:

• Platforms pay per user or per transaction, so as charging grows, costs increase
• CPOs pricing is reshaped by resellers, so they have no control over what the driver pays
• Drivers face inconsistent and inflated pricing, so they look for cheaper alternatives

Cariqa Connect removes these conflicts by changing the structure behind the transaction:

• Platforms participate in charging revenue instead of paying for it, giving them a direct incentive to drive usage
• CPOs set prices directly and retain control over how their infrastructure is commercialised
• Drivers see and pay direct CPO prices without markups, so they can trust what they’re being charged

For the first time, no one is left with a trade-off. What benefits one party now benefits all three: more charging, at direct prices, through experiences drivers can trust.

This kind of alignment is what the charging ecosystem’s been missing, and what will really enable it to scale.