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Opinion: Payment complexity is quietly stalling the UK

The complexity of paying for fuel and energy is more damaging than most people realise.

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The conversation about fleet decarbonisation tends to focus on the big, visible barriers: vehicle cost, charging infrastructure, range anxiety and policy uncertainty.

But there is a less visible problem building beneath the surface, already holding small to medium enterprises (SMEs) back.

It is the complexity of paying for fuel and energy, and it is more damaging than most people realise. For small fleet operators, this is something drivers encounter every working day.

Fragmented systems

Allstar recently commissioned independent research among 300 UK SMEs with fleets of between four and 20 vehicles.

97% reported feeling anxious about managing fuel and EV charging payments. That speaks to just how much complexity has crept into something that should be straightforward.

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The reason is fragmentation. The vehicles in a typical SME are not running on a single, unified payment system, but are juggling multiple cards, apps and providers, often simultaneously.

Eight in 10 (89%) use more than one payment method or platform to keep vehicles moving, and 12% are managing between four and 10.

That was already a problem in a petrol and diesel world. In a mixed fleet, where some drivers might be fuelling a diesel van in the morning or charging an electric one in the afternoon, it becomes genuinely unworkable.

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Feeling it on the road

The impact on drivers is direct and measurable.

Half of SMEs (49%) say payment problems disrupt their drivers at fuel pumps ‘often or always’ during a typical month. At charge points, that figure rises to 54%.

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These are regular, recurring friction points that eat into productive working time, and 97% of the businesses we surveyed confirmed that payment issues at the pump or plug reduce driver productivity or delay vehicles getting back on the road.

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What SMEs are asking for

This is where the EV transition enters the picture. Payment complexity is not only an operational headache today, but it is actively shaping investment decisions about tomorrow’s fleet.

Almost all respondents (99%) told us that uncertainty around payments has influenced their vehicle investment.

That is a striking finding. It tells us that the barrier to electrification is not always about the vehicles, but whether businesses feel confident enough in the systems around them.

Payment complexity is eroding that confidence, quietly and consistently, in businesses across the country.

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When businesses cannot get reliable, consistent, predictable payment experiences across their current mixed fleet, confidence in committing to further electrification is inevitably undermined.

The demand for a better solution is overwhelming and unambiguous.

98% of the SMEs we surveyed said that having a single payment method that works seamlessly across both traditional fuel and EV charging is important to them, with 19% describing it as essential.

The infrastructure

The UK’s fleet decarbonisation ambitions require the payment infrastructure to keep pace.

Right now, for the SME fleet operators who make up the backbone of the UK’s commercial transport sector, it is not keeping pace.

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The good news is that the solution is not complicated. Businesses are not asking for anything radical. The tech and the networks exist to make it a reality today.

The question is whether the industry moves quickly enough for the businesses that need it most.

Paul Holland is managing director for UK/ANZ vehicle payments at Corpay, including Allstar

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