WEX Looks for a Transaction-Volume Charge From a New Deal With an Electric-Vehicle Charge Supplier

Fleet and corporate payments provider WEX Inc. expects to enhance its charge volume through a new agreement to provide payment services to ChargePoint Inc., which has a global network of 66,000 charging stations for electric vehicles.

The agreement with Campbell, Calif.-based ChargePoint will enable WEX’s 11 million fleet card holders to pay for charges at those stations, assuming they’re driving an electric vehicle.

“Partnering with ChargePoint and adding their 66,000 sites to our network is a natural next step for us,” Peggy Watson, senior vice president of fleet product management at Portland, Maine-based WEX, said in a news release. “We’re always expanding our product functionality to meet the expanding and diverse needs of a broad range of fleet operators. That includes those that have made commitments or are under mandates to transition from traditional fuels to electric.”

WEX said it developed the new EV Fleet Charge service with the General Services Administration, the arm of the federal government that manages buildings, fleets, and other property. WEX provides fleet cards to the GSA, which has a fleet of more than 200,000 vehicles, according to WEX. And ChargePoint already serves the electric vehicles in the GSA’s fleet. The number of GSA vehicles that are electric was not immediately available.

Some 361,307 electric vehicles were sold in the U.S. last year, up 81% from 199,826 in 2017, according to the InsideEVs news site.

The WEX agreement will enhance ChargePoint’s existing services for fleet managers, according to Mark Kerstens, vice president of global fleet solutions at ChargePoint. “Leveraging WEX’s decades of experience, this partnership makes expense management even easier and more cost-effective, while helping make the transition to electric seamless and compelling for fleet managers and drivers,” Kerstens said in the release.