Southeast Asia’s fleets are no longer purely petrol and diesel. As EV adoption accelerates across the region, fuel retailers running closed-loop fleet card programs face a new question: what happens when a client’s fleet stops being 100% combustion engines? Discover how closed-loop platforms can extend to EV charging without a full system rebuild, and why the fuel retailers who plan for it now will keep their fleet clients through the transition.
Introduction
EV sales across Southeast Asia grew roughly 50% in 2024, with Singapore now above 50% EV penetration for new car sales. Charging infrastructure has kept pace – the number of charging stations across Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam grew ninefold between 2022 and 2024.
For fuel retailers, this shift is no longer a distant scenario. Fleet operators managing mixed fleets today are often stuck running two separate systems: one card for fuel, another payment method for charging. That means two invoices, two reporting dashboards and no single view of total energy spend per vehicle.
Why Fuel and Charging Don’t Work the Same Way
Adding EV support to a fuel card platform isn’t a simple feature toggle. Fuel and charging transactions behave differently at almost every layer:
- Different units. Fuel is priced per litre. Charging is priced per kWh, per session or per minute. The authorisation engine has to handle both.
- Different durations. A fuel transaction takes minutes. A charging session can run for hours, especially overnight AC charging, which means the system needs to track a session as it happens rather than settle it in one pass.
- Different protocols. Fuel pumps run on standardised forecourt protocols. EV chargers speak OCPP to their own backend and OCPI when roaming across charging networks.
- Different data. A charging session produces kWh consumed, connector type and duration – data that has to land in the same fleet reports that already track litres and cost-per-km.
None of this is a reason to avoid EV support. It’s a reason to plan the integration properly.
What an Integration Path Could Look Like
A workable model doesn’t require rebuilding a closed-loop platform from scratch. It layers on top of what already exists:
- RFID stays the constant. The same card, with the same RFID chip, authenticates at a fuel pump and at an EV charger.
- OCPI handles the roaming. Rather than integrating with every charging network one at a time, a closed-loop platform can connect via OCPI to reach multiple networks through a single link.
- The rules engine extends, not replaces. A fuel authorisation engine like Cardtrend’s iAuth already enforces per-transaction limits, product restrictions and time-of-day rules for fuel. That same type of engine is the kind of foundation that a charging-aware rules layer could be built on top of, extending to parameters such as a maximum kWh per session, approved charging networks or off-peak charging windows.
- Settlement stays unified. Fuel and charging transactions flow into the same invoice and the same reporting layer, giving fleet managers one number for total energy cost per vehicle.
Conclusion
Fuel retailers who build the EV pathway into their platform now don’t just protect their fleet card revenue – they position themselves as the partner who evolves with the client, not just the one who sold them a card. Those who wait will be building it under pressure, after a client has already gone looking elsewhere.
Contact Cardtrend today to talk through how your branded fuel card program can stay ready for the electrified fleets of tomorrow, keeping your brand the preferred choice for businesses as their fleets evolve.
