Cariqa launches Connect API, the world's first direct payment API for EV charging

For the first time, embedded EV charging is built on direct payments rather than resale. Drivers pay the CPO directly and partners generate revenue from every charging session, with direct access to over 900,000 European charge points.

BERLIN, Jun 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cariqa, the direct payment infrastructure for EV charging, today launched Cariqa Connect API: a fully embedded charging product that lets mobility platforms, OEMs, fleets and navigation apps integrate public EV charging into their own services.

Unlike reseller or white-labelled embedded charging solutions, Cariqa Connect API connects the platform, also known as a demand partner, directly to the Cariqa CPO network so they can enjoy and direct and transparent commercial relationship with the CPO, their drivers can pay the operator-set tariff, and the demand partner makes a share of revenue from every charging session. 

The API is live from today, with demand partner integrations open at cariqa.com/products/connect.

Connect API turns charging from cost into revenue:

Cariqa Connect API's commercial model is the first structural change. In conventional embedded charging, the demand partner pays the integration partner a per-transaction or per-user fees, making charging a cost line.

Cariqa Connect API treats demand partners more like affiliates in digital advertising: those who drive demand to the network are rewarded with a share of the revenue they generate. There are no per-transaction fees and no integration cost for the demand partner; instead, the demand partner earns from charging instead of paying for it.

CPO prices pass through unchanged to demand partners:

The second structural change is in how tariffs reach demand partners and their drivers. Conventional embedded charging integrates via a reseller API, a layer that typically inflates tariffs before they reach the driver. Cariqa Connect API removes that layer entirely by connecting the demand partner directly to Cariqa's partner CPOs. This enables the CPO-set tariff to pass through to the demand partner unchanged via Cariqa Connect, which can then surface those tariffs to their drivers.

This is critical for brand trust as drivers increasingly compare charging tariffs. When tariffs on the demand partner come in higher than expected, the partner takes the blame, not the reseller sitting behind the integration. Cariqa Connect API removes that exposure: the tariff the driver sees is the tariff the operator sets, with no markup on top.

The direct connection also unlocks dynamic pricing at scale. CPOs increasingly want to vary tariffs by time of day, grid load or station utilisation, but reseller layers typically settle on fixed wholesale agreements that strip those signals out before they reach drivers. Cariqa Connect API passes the CPO's live tariff through unchanged, so demand partners can surface dynamic pricing to drivers exactly as the operator publishes it.

One API, direct CPO relationships:

Cariqa Connect API is one technical integration that can be completed in a matter of days. Demand partners integrate once and maintain the commercial CPO relationships, while Cariqa handles the operational stack: payments, VAT compliance, e-invoicing, and network connectivity to virtually every CPO on the network.

In effect, Cariqa Connect API does for embedded charging what Stripe did for embedded payments, collapsing months of bank negotiations, PCI compliance and tax handling into a single API integration.

Extending the payments network behind A Better Routeplanner, Chargeprice and Eco-Movement:

Cariqa Connect API extends the same underlying network that already powers Cariqa Connect Links, the company's low-code embedded charging product. The API provides demand partners with a deeper, fully embedded integration and access to more than 900,000 charge points across Europe through a single technical integration.

Existing demand partners across the Cariqa Connect network include A Better Routeplanner, Chargeprice and Eco-Movement. Cariqa has direct integrations with more than 30 CPOs including Pfalzwerke, EWE Go, Qwello, enercity, Mer, TEAG Mobil and CITYWATT.

Closing the gap in embedded charging:

The launch comes as platforms across the mobility stack - in-car navigation, OEM software, fleet management, route planning - are increasingly expected to offer charging natively, but have lacked a way to do so without either reselling the network at a markup and absorbing significant operational cost. Connect API is built specifically to remove that trade-off. Germany and Austria are the initial focus markets, with broader European rollout to follow.

Issam Tidjani, CEO of Cariqa, said:

"Embedded EV charging has been built on incentives that don't align. Platforms pay to integrate, drivers pay above the operator's actual price, operators lose control of their own commercial relationships, and resellers extract value from all sides. Cariqa Connect realigns those incentives. Platforms earn a share of the revenue they help generate, operators stay in commercial control with payments flowing directly to them, and drivers pay what the operator intended."

Demand partner integrations are open from today. To explore embedding Cariqa Connect API into a mobility platform, OEM application, fleet tool, navigation app or routing service, check out cariqa.com/products/connect, or contact the team at [email protected].

About Cariqa

Cariqa is the direct payment infrastructure for EV charging, enabling charge point operators and the platforms, apps, and vehicles drivers use to transact directly. Operators retain commercial control of their network, and payments flow directly to the operator. Cariqa's network covers more than 900,000 charge points across Europe, with CPO partners including Pfalzwerke, EWE Go, Qwello, enercity, Mer, TEAG Mobil and CITYWATT. Cariqa Connect, the company's embedded charging product, is powering charging and payments inside navigation and routing platforms including A Better Routeplanner, Chargeprice, and Eco-Movement. Headquartered in Berlin, see its LinkedIn page for more information.

SOURCE Cariqa