The End of the Reseller Era: A Platform Model for EV Charging

The Canyon Between Protocols and Commercial Alignment

‍The EV charging industry has come a long way in solving the first half of the interoperability puzzle. Protocols like OCPI and OICP work. Roaming hubs have done the heavy lifting of connecting Charge Point Operators and eMobility Service Providers at a technical level. The pipes are there, the electrons can flow.

But while the technical layer is largely solved, the commercial layer is still broken. EV uptake is growing again after the 2024 slowdown, yet many CPOs remain far from profitability. The culprit is not the protocols, it’s the reseller model that governs how charging services are priced, billed, and settled.

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The Reseller Problem: Distorted Prices, Broken Incentives, Compliance Exposure

The reseller structure, where intermediaries buy energy from CPOs and resell it to end customers, delivers a double hit to margins.

First, the end-user price is often inflated by roaming markups, which suppresses demand and slow ROI. Second, in order to secure visibility or even remain listed in certain third-party channels, many CPOs – particularly small and medium-sized operators – are pressured into conceding deep wholesale discounts, sometimes under the explicit or implicit threat of being removed from the network. This leaves them in a no-win situation: utilisation only increases if retail prices are cut to a level where they lose money on every kilowatt-hour delivered. The result is a vicious cycle: higher prices in the retail channel and thinner margins in the wholesale channel, both feeding into slower utilisation growth and/or longer payback periods.

Even where price sensitivity could be used as a lever, most CPOs can’t act on it at scale. The large majority of their volume runs through channels they don’t control, where intermediaries set the final retail price. That makes targeted discounts, time-of-day offers, and competitive pricing strategies ineffective or completely invisible to the end customer.

This lack of control has pushed many CPOs to try and steer EV drivers into their own proprietary apps and/or charging cards, in an effort to reclaim pricing authority and reduce dependency on third parties. But that approach limits reach, fragments the customer experience, and ultimately slows network-wide utilisation growth, the very metric needed to reach profitability faster. 

Drivers lose trust when the exact same charging session can cost wildly different amounts depending on which app, card, or web portal they happen to use. In Germany, roaming markups average more than 25%, with price gaps of up to 70% for the same charger depending on the channel. More than 60% of EV drivers report comparing multiple apps before starting a charge, and nearly half have abandoned a session after discovering inflated pricing. This is the “treasure hunt” problem: a frustrating and cumbersome search for the best price that makes petrol look simple (and cheap) by comparison.

Downstream Impact – From OEMs to End customers

The impact goes far beyond CPO margins. High and inconsistent public charging prices inflate the real-world running costs of EVs, slowing adoption in the very customer segments that should be driving the beginning of mass adoption: lower-income drivers and those without home or workplace charging.
OEMs feel the impact of this directly through slower sales, especially in competitive segments. Fleets and mobility providers face unpredictable energy costs, making total cost of ownership (“TCO”) harder to manage and route planning less efficient. 

The compliance clock has already started ticking

Regulation is no longer on the horizon, it’s here. AFIR is already reshaping the charging landscape with hard requirements for transparent and non-discriminatory pricing. Any model that creates different prices for the same charging service without proper justification, will eventually face compliance challenges.

On the payments side, PSD2 draws a sharp line: if you collect money on behalf of someone else without a payment institution licence, you are legally a payment intermediary. Commercial arrangements that involve fund collection and onward settlement can fall under this definition, making the underlying payment flows a regulatory risk if not structured correctly.

These are not abstract policy discussions. They are enforceable rules as of today, and non-compliance can lead to financial penalties, operational restrictions, or loss of market access.

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The real-world costs of a flawed commercial model

Financial Risk and Delayed Cash Flow

Under the reseller model, CPOs rarely get paid at the time of charging. Settlement often happens weeks or months later, depending on the intermediary’s schedule, creating cash flow gaps that hit smaller operators especially hard. On top of that, there’s always a non-payment risk: if an intermediary fails or disputes an invoice, the CPO may never see the revenue for energy already delivered. For capital-intensive infrastructure businesses, this is more than an inconvenience, it’s a structural financial exposure.

Billing and Reconciliation Complexity

Even when payment does arrive, it is rarely straightforward. A CPO connected to 80 partners may need to issue 80 separate invoices every month in their own format, each with the correct VAT treatment and tax details depending on where the charging took place and whether the counterparty is authorised to resell energy. This complexity not only creates administrative overhead but also increases the risk of errors, compliance breaches, and disputes. It’s a hidden cost of the reseller model that scales with network growth, eroding the very efficiencies that should come with size. 

Fraud Risk

The reseller model is also more exposed to fraud, particularly when energy is post-paid by EV drivers. Stolen or cloned RFID cards, shared app credentials, and unauthorised sessions can all result in uncollected revenue. Without real-time financial clearing between the driver and the CPO, these incidents are harder to detect quickly, allowing fraudulent activity to continue for longer and inflating losses. We have already seen cases where fraud has amounted to hundreds of thousands of euros. In some instances, fraudsters have even registered as EMPs on roaming networks using bogus business entities, collected driver payments, and disappeared without ever paying the CPO. Cross-border debt collection in these scenarios is incredibly difficult, often involving complex jurisdictional hurdles and high legal costs. In most cases, CPOs simply cut their losses and write off the debt.

The missing layer: Commercial interoperability

The industry needs a structural solution: a platform model that builds on existing technical interoperability protocols while adding a commercial layer to restore alignment.

In this model, CPOs keep full pricing authority and remain in control of the tariffs drivers see.  Crucially, this control extends far beyond the CPO’s own app, charging card, or ad hoc payment medium. Whether a driver starts a charge through an in-car interface, a third party mobility service, or via ad hoc systems, the CPO’s commercial logic remains intact.

This creates the ability to run utilisation driven pricing strategies across all channels, not just within the CPO’s “four walls,” turning every customer touchpoint into an opportunity to influence demand, maximise revenue, and deliver a consistent, trusted experience.

To succeed, such a model must also be natively compliant. The merchant of record must always remain the CPO, eliminating PSD2 exposure. AFIR transparency must be built in, with one harmonised price across every channel, whether on site or in app. And for those thinking agent models or price agreements with EMPs might be a shortcut, they are not. Those arrangements are at high risk of PSD2 non-compliance and add complexity that does not scale.

Making the model real: Cariqa as orchestrator

The platform model cannot remain an abstract industry concept; it needs an orchestrator that connects the technical layer of interoperability with the commercial layer of pricing, payment, and settlement. That is the role Cariqa plays.

Cariqa ensures that interoperability protocols run in sync with payment rails, so every charging session carries the correct tariff, tax, and settlement logic. This creates a seamless link between technical connectivity and financial clearing.

CPOs remain in full control of their commercial strategy. They can choose how to bring their tariffs into the system - via the OCPI tariff module, using Cariqa’s flexible pricing engine, or a combination of both. Either way, tariffs are applied consistently across every channel, ensuring that commercial strategies remain intact end to end, without distortion from intermediaries. 

Turning today’s risks into tomorrow’s competitive edge

Under the reseller model, CPOs rarely get paid at the time of charging. Settlement often happens weeks or months later, depending on the intermediary’s schedule, creating cash flow gaps that hit smaller operators especially hard. On top of that, there is always a non-payment risk: if an intermediary fails or disputes an invoice, the CPO may never see the revenue for energy already delivered. For capital-intensive infrastructure businesses, this is more than an inconvenience, it is a structural financial exposure.

This burden doesn’t stop at the CPO. Many CPMS providers market infrastructure on behalf of CPOs and take on the responsibility of invoicing intermediaries directly. In those cases, the risk of delayed or missing payments falls on the CPMS itself. When cash flow dries up at the intermediary level, CPMS providers are forced into a difficult position: either delay payouts to their CPO customers, straining relationships, or absorb the exposure themselves. Neither outcome is sustainable – and both are direct symptoms of a broken settlement model.

Billing becomes dramatically simpler. In the platform model, each transaction generates its own invoice at the moment of payment , ensuring correct VAT handling at the source and removing ambiguity over reseller status or jurisdiction. Because clearing happens in real time, the entire process can be fully automated, replacing weeks of manual reconciliation work with instant, accurate settlement.

Fraud risk is also minimised. Through pre authorisations, funds are secured before the session starts, preventing losses from stolen or cloned RFID cards, shared app credentials, or unauthorised sessions. Even in edge cases , fraudulent activity is stopped before significant energy is delivered. This is a stark contrast to the reseller model, where fraud may only be discovered after the monthly reconciliation – far too late to act.

Neutrality as the foundation of trust

A financial interoperability layer can only succeed if every participant trusts that it will not be used to advance another player’s commercial interests. The current reseller model is toxic because pricing power sits with intermediaries who have their own revenue agendas, often at odds with the CPO’s utilisation goals or the OEM’s affordability targets.

Cariqa is neutral by design. We are not funded by or tied to any energy utility, CPO, OEM, or EMP. We have no competing retail channel, no home energy product to cross-sell, and no hidden agenda to redirect customers from one provider to another. We are also not a CPMS provider and we do not offer aggregation services, meaning we have no stake in steering technical connections or data flows for our own benefit.

That independence is what makes us a credible orchestrator: we can align commercial incentives across CPOs, OEMs, fleets, and service providers without the risk of channel conflict.

In a market where some emerging players are backed by major utilities, operate retail energy businesses, or bundle platform capabilities with CPMS or aggregation offerings, neutrality is not just a nice-to-have, it is the foundation for a system that can be trusted to serve the collective interest of the ecosystem, not the strategic interests of a single shareholder.

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Our Journey – Proving the Model

We didn’t start with theory, we started with proof. The first step in the Cariqa journey was to integrate our platform model into the Cariqa App. Not to become another EMP, but to create a fully self-contained environment where we could run the model end-to-end, “eating our own dog food” before offering it to others.

In this controlled setup, we could manage the entire flow: CPOs set their tariffs in the Cariqa Console, prices appeared instantly in the app, drivers paid, and settlements cleared in real time. We worked with large, medium, and small CPOs, gathering direct feedback, spotting potential issues before they could scale, and validating the model under live market conditions.

The result? 100% uptime, zero tariff resolution issues, and zero fraud, with pricing, settlement, and compliance all running in perfect sync. This wasn’t just theory working on paper. It is the platform model working in the real world .

Opening the Platform – Introducing Cariqa Go

As word spread, our customers and users began asking for more ways to use the Cariqa platform beyond the app. In particular, they wanted a way to deliver the same harmonised, transparent pricing for on site ad hoc charging, without compromising on speed, UX, or compliance.

That is where Cariqa Go comes in. Launching now, Cariqa Go is an AFIR ready ad-hoc charging solution that delivers the fastest and most seamless QR based payment experience in the market. It is available at no additional cost for platform customers. Drivers can benefit from dynamic tariffs and pay instantly at the charger by scanning a QR code, with card terminal support following soon. 

Both payment options give drivers the same price they would find in any digital channel, eliminating the penalty for choosing one payment method over another. Whether a driver prefers tap and go on site or tracking every charge in a digital history, Cariqa Go makes it equally fast, equally fair, and equally compliant, all powered by the same platform model proven and battle tested in the market.

‍But we want to take this a step further.

A platform is not a platform if it remains confined to a single app. The real power comes when it extends outward – when others can build on it as easily as if it were their own.

What if the platform model could power EV charging exactly where drivers already are, inside OEM apps, in car infotainment systems, fleet solutions, rental apps, or roadside assistance touchpoints, without forcing them to switch to another interface? And what if CPOs could use those same touchpoints to establish a direct commercial relationship with those drivers, without EMPs acting as gatekeepers? Now imagine that, instead of paying to enable this service, providers could generate revenue while giving their customers full price transparency.

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Introducing Cariqa Connect

That is what Cariqa Connect makes possible. While the platform keeps CPOs in control of their commercial strategy, it also opens a new opportunity for the other side of the ecosystem: companies that need to embed charging into their customer experience.

Connect Links – Available Today

‍For companies that want to activate quickly, Connect Links enable EV charging in days with minimal coding required. Mapping apps, price comparison platforms, and other services that already surface charging locations can instantly enable payments through secure links.
Drivers simply tap, pay, and charge without downloading an app or installing an app clip. For providers, this is the fastest path to turning charging point visibility into a seamless service that generates revenue from each transaction.

Connect API – Coming in 2026

‍For deeper, native integration, the Connect API will allow digital products such as OEM apps, in-car infotainment systems, fleet portals, rental apps, or mobility services to offer EV charging directly. No EMP setup, no overpriced white label, no hidden markups. Integration takes weeks, not months or years, and once live it runs without operational overhead: pricing, payments, settlement and even customer support are all handled by Cariqa.

As Stripe transformed payments and Twilio transformed telecom, the Connect API transforms EV charging – removing gatekeepers and complexity so charging can live natively inside the services drivers already use.

Together, Connect Links and the Connect API create a progression path: a no-code on-ramp available immediately, and a full-code integration that enables complete control. Both make charging simple to implement, effortless to operate, fully compliant, and commercially positive. Instead of being a cost center, charging becomes a seamless extension of existing services and a revenue stream.

Continuing with Cariqa Drive

‍While our platform expands outward through Cariqa Go and Connect, the app that started it all will remain an important part of our strategy. Rebranded as Cariqa Drive, it will continue to serve drivers directly, providing what many consider the most complete and user-friendly EV charging app on the market.

Cariqa Drive is more than a driver app. It is our test bed: the place where new features are launched first, validated in the wild, and continuously improved before they reach partners through the wider platform. It allows us to keep “eating our own dog food” – validating every flow end-to-end – while ensuring the user experience remains best in class.

Most importantly, Cariqa Drive also serves as a commercial touchpoint for CPOs who do not operate their own EMP and want a direct digital channel to reach EV drivers. For others, it acts as a reference experience: a benchmark of what seamless, transparent, and trustworthy charging looks like when our APIs are embedded into third-party products.

In this way, Cariqa Drive is both a service for drivers and a proof point for the industry, demonstrating what the platform model can deliver when fully in sync across pricing, payments, and experience.

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A Positive Loop – System-Level Alignment 

This is the positive loop the industry has been missing. CPOs can finally execute their commercial strategies at scale because their prices flow unchanged into every channel, no silent markups, no forced channel dependency. OEMs and fleets enhance their customer offer instead of eroding it with inflated reseller prices or clumsy white-label experiences. Drivers gain confidence because the price they see is the price they pay, wherever and no matter how they choose to charge.

When commercial incentives are aligned, participation becomes attractive and sustainable. CPOs see faster utilisation growth and shorter payback periods. OEMs can confidently bundle public charging into their customer experience without fearing backlash over price distortion. Fleets can integrate charging without sinking budget into complex, low-return builds, and for commercial fleets in particular, the economics speak for themselves: a harmonised, transparent charging cost structure strengthens the TCO case for EV adoption far beyond ESG targets alone.

Drivers stop “treasure hunting” for the best deal, because there’s no hidden deal to find.

Think of it like buying a jug of milk. Imagine walking into a supermarket and discovering that the price changes depending on which bank issued your card or whether you pay cash. That would be socially unacceptable, yet this is exactly how EV charging works today. The platform model ends that distortion. The same station, the same energy, the same service, the same fair price, wherever and no matter how you choose to pay.

Mass adoption won’t be unlocked by connections alone. Roaming hubs have already laid the technical foundation, ensuring that chargers and services can talk to each other. The next step is trust: aligning incentives across the ecosystem, so that every player – from infrastructure owners to OEMs – can operate on a commercially sustainable and transparent footing. Only then can scale be achieved without distorting prices or eroding consumer confidence.

It’s time for a model that works for everyone. It’s time to build with Cariqa.

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