Mixed fleets of internal combustion engines (ICE) and electric vehicles (EVs) might get to toss an extra fuel payment card. Transportation transaction platform WEX recently released a new fleet card that can be used to make purchases at electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and traditional fuel pumps. The company stated that this card is the “first-of-its-kind,” allowing fuel and charging transactions with “one card, one account, one invoice” for fleet operations.
“As fleets began operating a mix of ICE and electric vehicles, customers told us they didn’t want separate cards, credit lines, systems, or data reconciliation processes for fueling and charging,” Jay Collins, SVP and GM of EV and mobility at Wex, told FleetOwner. “They asked for a simpler, unified way to pay and manage energy spend as their fleets transition without the challenges of fragmented payment systems.”
EVs add complexity to fleet operations with “new tools, workflows, and vendors,” Collins said. Enabling one fuel card to work with both ICE and EV allows fleets to “scale EV adoption at their own pace without reworking their payment infrastructure,” he said.
This new fuel card is accepted nationwide at 90% of fuel stations and more than 175,000 EV charging stations through the Wex network. These cards are upgraded with RFID technology, enabling the Tap to Pay function, which is required at many charging stations. This technology prevents fleet drivers from having to download EV charging apps to pay, and the simplicity of Tap to Pay is something drivers appreciate, Collins said.
Additionally, the card works on Wex’s closed-loop fleet network, which gives Wex customers “end-to-end control of transactions, enabling richer data, stronger security, and fleet-specific purchase controls that support electrification without disrupting existing fueling workflows,” Wex said in a release.
Furthermore, the new Wex fuel card simplifies the management burden, as all payments flow into a single system within the Wex platform, and managers can generate a single fueling report for both charging and fuel transactions.
Mixed fleets can request updated cards immediately or enable this feature on their current fuel cards.
“This launch is about future readiness without added complexity, meeting fleets where they are today while preparing them for what’s next,” Collins said. “WEX isn’t asking customers to choose between fuel and electric, we’re giving them flexible tools to support both, at their own pace, with the controls and insights they rely on today.”
