EP-4738297-A1 - VEHICLE CHARGING PAYMENT

EP4738297A1EP 4738297 A1EP4738297 A1EP 4738297A1EP-4738297-A1

Abstract

A method of payment for charging of a battery of a vehicle is described. A charging connection between the vehicle and a charging station is established. A communication channel between a vehicle payment module of the vehicle and a terminal module of the charging station is established over the charging connection. The method then comprises selecting, at the vehicle, a fleet card for payment and preparing a charging payment transaction, using the fleet card, for authentication. The charging payment transaction is then provided by the vehicle payment module, for authorisation to the terminal module of the charging station. The terminal module then provides the charging payment transaction to a transaction system for authorisation. The method further comprises providing at the vehicle a fleet card data structure for the selected fleet card. The fleet card data structure comprises a set of required data elements and is adapted to hold metadata for each of the required data elements and values for each of the required data elements. The fleet card data structure with the charging payment transaction is then provided by the vehicle to the transaction system for authorisation of the charging payment transaction, where the fleet card data structure is populated at a plurality of transaction stages from a plurality of data sources.

Inventors

MAIN, JONATHAN JAMES
SMETS, PATRIK

Assignees

Mastercard International Incorporated

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20241029

Claims (15)

A method of payment for charging of a battery of a vehicle, the method comprising: establishing a charging connection between the vehicle and a charging station; establishing a communication channel between a vehicle payment module of the vehicle and a terminal module of the charging station over the charging connection; selecting, at the vehicle, a fleet card for payment; preparing a charging payment transaction, using the fleet card, for authentication; providing, by the vehicle payment module, the charging payment transaction for authorisation to the terminal module of the charging station; and providing, by the terminal module, the charging payment transaction to a transaction system for authorisation; the method further comprising identifying the selected card as a fleet card; providing at the vehicle a fleet card data structure for the selected fleet card, the fleet card data structure comprising a set of required data elements, the fleet card data structure being adapted to hold metadata for each of the required data elements and values for each of the required data elements, and providing the fleet card data structure with the charging payment transaction to the transaction system for authorisation of the charging payment transaction; and populating the fleet card data structure at a plurality of transaction stages from a plurality of data sources.
The method of claim 1, wherein populating the fleet card data structure comprises adding to the set of required data elements.
The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein populating the fleet card data structure comprises adding metadata for one or more required data elements, wherein said metadata comprises rules for collection or for use of required data element values.
The method of claim 3 where dependent on claim 2, wherein populating the fleet card data structure comprises, at a transaction stage, adding more than one of required data elements, metadata for required data elements, or required data element values to the fleet card data structure.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the electric vehicle comprises a card data module holding card data for payment cards, and an electric vehicle charging application to control the electric vehicle charging process, wherein one or more of the card data module, the vehicle payment module, and the vehicle charging application populates the fleet card data structure for the transaction.
The method of claim 5, wherein the method comprises the vehicle payment module requesting card data for eligible payment cards from the card data module, wherein the fleet card is an eligible payment card, the electric vehicle charging application selecting the fleet card for payment from a set of eligible payment cards provided to the electric vehicle charging application by the vehicle payment module, wherein the method further comprises the card data module returning said card data and providing and/or populating the fleet card data structure for the fleet card to the vehicle payment module.
The method of claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the electric vehicle charging application populating the fleet card data structure on selection of the fleet card, wherein the electric vehicle charging application comprises or accesses fleet card rules for the selected fleet card, and wherein the electric vehicle charging application adds to the set of required elements, populates metadata for required data elements, or both according to the fleet card rules.
The method of any of claims 5 to 7, wherein the electric vehicle charging application communicates with an electric vehicle management system, wherein the electric vehicle charging application populates the fleet card data structure with data received from the electric vehicle management system.
The method of any of claims 5 to 8, wherein the fleet card rules further comprise purchase restrictions, and the electric vehicle charging application provides the fleet card rule purchase restrictions to the vehicle payment module.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein preparing the charging payment transaction for authentication comprises a transaction setup interaction between the vehicle payment module and the terminal module, wherein the vehicle payment module provides the fleet card data structure to the terminal module, and wherein the terminal module populates the fleet card data structure and provides the further populated fleet card data structure to the vehicle payment module.
The method of any preceding claim where dependent on claim 5, wherein before providing the charging payment transaction for authorisation to the terminal module of the charging station, the vehicle payment module requests card authorisation data for the fleet card from the card data module, and provides the fleet card data structure to the card data module with the request.
The method of claim 11, wherein on providing the card authorisation data for the fleet card, the card data module determines from required element metadata whether any required data element is to be encrypted, and if so, the card data module encrypts the relevant required data element and includes it in the fleet card data structure in encrypted form.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein on receiving the charging payment transaction from the vehicle payment module and before providing the charging payment transaction to the transaction system for authorisation, the charging station further populates the fleet card data structure.
A charging station for charging an electric vehicle, the charging station comprising: a charging means adapted to establish a charging connection with a vehicle; a terminal module adapted to communicate with a vehicle payment module of the vehicle over the charging connection, wherein the terminal module is configured to: receive, from the vehicle payment module, a charging payment transaction for authorisation, wherein the charging payment transaction comprises a fleet card data structure having a set of required data elements for a selected fleet card, the fleet card data structure being adapted to hold metadata for each of the required data elements and values for each of the required data elements; populate the fleet card data structure with one or more of the required data elements; provide, the charging payment transaction and the fleet card data structure to a transaction system for authorisation.
An electric vehicle, the electric vehicle comprising: a charging system for a battery of the electric vehicle, wherein the charging system is adapted to establish a charging connection with a charging station; a vehicle payment module adapted to communicate with a terminal module of a charging station over the charging connection, the electric vehicle being configured to: select a card for payment and identify the card as a fleet card; prepare a charging payment transaction using the fleet card for authentication; populate fleet card data structure for the selected fleet card, the fleet card data structure comprising a set of required data elements, the fleet card data structure being adapted to hold metadata for each of the required data elements and values for each of the required data elements; and provide, by the vehicle payment module, the charging payment transaction for authorisation to the terminal module of the charging station, wherein the fleet card data structure is provided to the terminal module with the charging payment transaction.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for payment for vehicle charging. BACKGROUND A developing approach to the charging of electric vehicles (EVs) is the use of EV charging stations associated with a smart grid. Use of a smart grid allows for particularly efficient charging, and for vehicle batteries to be used as sources of electricity for the smart grid in particular situations. ISO 15118 is a set of standards developed to support interaction of an EV with a smart grid for charging. ISO 15118 supports communication between an electric vehicle and a charging station (in this context, more generally identified as "supply equipment") using power line communication - this operates over the charging interface (which may be wired or wireless) and ensures the information exchanged between the vehicle and the charging station, including card payment information, is communicated effectively and maintained securely. A "plug and charge" model has been developed for charging of electric vehicles once the charging connection is established - this is based on there being a pre-existing service contract, and it allows for automated communication and billing processes between the electric vehicle and the charging station without any need for external identification (e.g., RFID cards, Debit/credit cards or charging apps) once the applicable service contract has been established. Despite the advantages of the "plug and charge" model, it has significant practical limitations. It is not flexible, and it does not in particular allow for the checks and conditions that can be provided in card payment - such as the incorporation of card specific requirements. Achieving any equivalent result requires significant user action and this largely limits the applicability of this model. The present disclosure has been devised to mitigate or overcome at least some of the above-mentioned problems with existing approaches to payment for vehicle charging. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE The present inventors have appreciated that existing methods implemented for payment of vehicle charging sessions having significant limitations when it comes to implementing and enabling payment methods that include restrictions associated with the payment card. One type of payment card that implements restrictions are fleet cards, which are primarily for the payment of fuel and automotive related purchases. Traditionally, fleet cards have been used for liquid fuel and as the use of electric vehicles expands, the use of these cards now require extension into the electric vehicle charging space. This has proven to be challenging within the existing infrastructure, particularly because fleet cards differ not only include restrictions on the goods and services which may be purchased with the card, but they generally additionally include requirements for additional vehicle or driver related data to support the fleet management. In 2023, the EMVCo consortium started the development of card-based payment specifications for EV charging (i.e. development of an EMV standard), by which a connection dedicated for card payment communication would co-exist and run on top of the ISO 15118 standard. The present inventors have appreciated that when using such a connection, the interactions between the elements of the charging system could be extended to enable the communication of fleet management data, and the enforcement of purchase restrictions associated with the use of a fleet card, to be implemented in a set of interactions for payment for an electric vehicle charging session. Therefore, according to a first aspect of the present disclosure provides a method of payment for charging of a battery of a vehicle, the method comprising: establishing a charging connection between the vehicle and a charging station; establishing a communication channel between a vehicle payment module of the vehicle and a terminal module of the charging station over the charging connection; selecting, at the vehicle, a fleet card for payment; preparing a charging payment transaction, using the fleet card, for authentication; providing, by the vehicle payment module, the charging payment transaction for authorisation to the terminal module of the charging station; and providing, by the terminal module, the charging payment transaction to a transaction system for authorisation; the method further comprising identifying the selected card as a fleet card, providing at the vehicle a fleet card data structure for the selected fleet card, the fleet card data structure comprising a set of required data elements, the fleet card data structure being adapted to hold metadata for each of the required data elements and values for each of the required data elements, and providing the fleet card data structure with the charging payment transaction to the transaction system for authorisation of the charging payment transaction; and populating the fleet card data structure at a plu