FLEETCOR has acquired cloud-based electric vehicle (EV) charging software platform Mina.
The global business payments and spend management company said in a Wednesday (Feb. 1) press release that the purchase gives it a solution for commercial fleets in the United Kingdom that captures, calculates and pays for at-home charging of business-use vehicles.
“It’s a fascinating company that’s built software integrations into virtually all the U.K. EV charging hardware suppliers and electric utility providers,” FLEETCOR Chairman and CEO Ron Clarke said in the release. “That makes at-home EV charging and reimbursement incredibly simple for employees and employers.”
Adding EVs to commercial fleets creates some new challenges beyond those that businesses face with internal combustion engine vehicles, FLEETCOR President of Fuelman and North America Local Fleet Keagan Russo told PYMNTS in an interview posted in January 2022.
One of those issues is reimbursing employees who charge company vehicles at home. That requires getting charge data, calculating the expense of charging the vehicle at home and reimbursing the employee, Russo said at the time.
People may not have anticipated the amount of recharging of business vehicles that would happen at employees’ homes, Clarke said in February 2022 during a FLEETCOR earnings call.
Because this charging is happening away from public recharging stations, it has created opportunities for software companies to help businesses see that it is measured and reimbursed.
Mina’s solution simplifies and automates this reimbursement process, thereby helping commercial fleets manage the transition to electric fleets, according to the press release.
FLEETCOR first invested Mina in 2021, saying at the time that Mina’s solution makes paying for EV charging accurate and easy for employers and employees, that clients are supportive of paying a software subscription fee for that simplicity and that the investment supported FLEETCOR’s plan to support clients’ recharging and refueling, at-home and on the road.
With the acquisition, Mina joins the FLEETCOR portfolio of brands that automate, secure, digitize and manage business payments in more than 100 countries, the release said.
“We now have a market-leading 3-in-1 EV charging solution for commercial fleets that combines at-home, on-the-road, along with internal combustion engine refueling into one integrated client offering,” FLEETCOR Global Managing Director of EV Solutions Tom Rowlands said in the release.
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