Billing Solutions for E-Mobility

The electromobility industry began in large parts with the attempt to make access and billing for charging infrastructure purely digital and cashless from the outset. The standardisation efforts led to competing solution approaches, which to this day ensure that access and billing of charging transactions must take place via different data standards, versions, implementation qualities and within the framework of country-specific regulatory requirements - which led to a high level of complexity and susceptibility to errors. The EU directive AFIR (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation) was intended to provide a remedy here, but the requirements for direct payment imposed another type of access and billing, which is currently being implemented by the charging station operators (CPO) in a costly and time-consuming manner.

The interoperability solutions implemented to date in so-called roaming and the associated processes for the further processing of invoices and charging data (CDRs) between the players of the charging service providers (EMP) and CPOs are sometimes handled as reseller business. In addition to this, the legislator has already created the framework conditions for a so-called pass-through model. By separating the infrastructure charges from the electricity costs, customers will be able to bring their own electricity suppliers to each charging station in future.

The expansion of the market model will initially increase the complexity of billing in the medium term, as existing market models will have to be operated in parallel with new models.

Find out more about our innovative solutions and how we want to help shape the future of electromobility here, or ask us your questions directly for a personalised consultation.

In the field of electromobility, the billing of charging processes can be very complex due to the numerous players involved and the frequently changing framework conditions. For example, there are a variety of contractual relationships and associated charging conditions that focus on specific tariff components depending on the country. Within and outside of roaming, billing also takes place between several players under different conditions, e.g.

• Charging station operator (CPO) and charging service provider (EMP)
• Roaming platform and EMP
• EMP and end customer

In international roaming, there are also country-specific factors such as Portugal, where a pass-through model has already been implemented and three different VAT rates are applied depending on the region of the charging location, or CPOs that charge flat rates or flat rates to EMPs in their home countries, but which have to be translated into kWh or time-based rates by the EMP for its end customers in other countries.

The associated invoice verification ties up valuable resources and leads to considerable additional costs.

The most common problems include

• Poor quality of the charging data
• Incorrect invoices in terms of form and content
• Errors in the implementation of contractual agreements and special tariff features
• Rounding and currency errors
• Errors in the settlement of vouchers
• Complex contractual relationships between the players

Tallence validates Charge Detail Records (CDRs) and improves their rating, integrates leading charging station management systems and billing engines, supports in pricing processes and in scaling charging services with the growing demand in the e-mobility sector.

Because:

• Up to 5% of invoices in the e-mobility sector are incorrect.
• Poor quality POI data, charge detail records (CDRs) and errors in the implementation of contractual agreements and special tariff features cause incorrect invoices in terms of form and content.