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Approximately 10% of electric vehicle (EV) charging occurs outside the home. What is the best credit card for earning rewards points at public EV charging stations?
*** This article from December 23, 2021 was updated on March 24, 2023 and April 25, 2023.
In Quebec and Eastern Ontario, the most commonly used public EV charging stations are those of the Circuit Électrique and Flo. There is also the Petro-Canada fast-charging network along the Trans-Canada Highway.
My colleague Frédéric explains that certain types of purchases in stores earn extra points or cash back. This depends on the Merchant Category Code (C C C) or the Merchant Category Code (M C C).
For electric charging stations, the CCC created by Visa and Mastercard is 5552 – Electric Vehicle Charging.
Therefore, to determine the category of your charging transaction, you must contact your financial institution. Or, go to the Developer Tool in your browser to find out.
For example, I used the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card at a EV charging station from Petro-Canada in Ontario. The CCC code for this transaction is Class 5552 – Electric Vehicle Charging.
This is despite the fact that Petro-Canada’s primary business is selling gasoline(code 5541).
This merchant category code 5552 is very recent. This causes major differences in how it is coded at merchants associated with Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
With the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card, you earn 1.5 points per dollar on all eligible gas purchases. However, this Petro-Canada 5552 refill is classified as “Other”. As a result, I only got 1 point per dollar for this charge.
As a side note, I even got a $5 promotional credit for any purchase (reloading my Circuit Électrique account) of $10 or more during the last American Express Shop Small promotion! This is the equivalent of 31 kWh of free energy (or about 170 kilometres with my battery type), at a 100 kWh Circuit Électrique fast charging station.
Since points and rewards vary from one card and issuer to another, the best approach is to run your own tests at EV charging stations with your credit card.
For Tesla drivers, the Supercharger detects the owner of the vehicle being charged and simply bills the expense to the credit card on file.
Depending on the credit card issuer, Tesla can be coded as either:
Yes, it is an inexact science!
The cards that stand out for earning rewards at EV charging stations are:
Please note that RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card and RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card holders have an exclusive offer for Petro-Canada electrical charging stations.
Sign up for the offer in your profile, pay for the charge with one of these cards, and automatically receive a rebate. This will be in the form of a credit of up to $100 by August 31, 2024.
In its welcome offer terms, the BMO CashBack® World Elite®* Mastercard®* states:
You will therefore earn 3% cash back at EV charging stations with the BMO CashBack® World Elite®* Mastercard®*.
Note that you need to be careful with the BMO CashBack® World Elite®* Mastercard®*. When I tried it, my Circuit Electrique recharges did not code as “electric charge”. Instead, they fell into the “Other” category with a 1% return in 2022. Perhaps this has changed since then. Yet Circuit Électrique is perfectly coded at 2 points per dollar with the National Bank World Elite Mastercard®.
The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite+ Card clearly states that:
You will therefore earn 2% cash back at EV charging stations with the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite+ Card.
CIBC credit cards code electrical recharges as “Other”. They therefore have a lower accumulation.
Since April 20, 2023, great news! Several CIBC cards will have the same earn rate as gas, and it is therefore higher. These are:
Aventura CIBC Visa Infinite
CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card
CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege
CIBC Aventura Visa Card
CIBC Aventura Visa Card for Students
CIBC Aventura Visa Card for Business
CIBC Aventura Visa Card for Business Plus
CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite* Card
CIBC Dividend Platinum® Visa* Card
CIBC Dividend Visa Card for Students
CIBC Dividend Visa Card
CIBC Aeroplan® Visa* Card
CIBC Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card
I have had an electric vehicle since 2014.
We even took it to drive down to Florida! At that time, I used the Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card. It was my payment card for the Electrify America charges. It saved me the 2.5% conversion fee.
Between January and May 2021, I stayed at home due to sanitary restrictions. But between June and November 2021, I took several road trips totalling 7,200 kilometres in Quebec and Ontario with my 100% electric vehicle.
In total, the cost of all my recharges at the various electric charging stations was $161.55. The breakdown is as follows:
The hotels I stayed at had free electric charging stations, such as the Delta Sherbrooke, Le Navigateur Hotel in Rimouski and the Fairmont Tremblant.
For example, over those 6 months, a holder of the National Bank World Elite Mastercard® would therefore have received a rebate of 323 points, or a maximum value of $3.23 (2 points * $161.55).
In conclusion, is applying for a credit card specifically for electric charging stations advantageous for occasional needs? In my case: No.
But YES, if you have a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), a two-car setup with an EV and a gas car, or if you regularly use public EV charging stations. The above credit cards are good allies as you will get discounts on both your gas and public electric recharges.
I would benefit much more from analyzing the best credit cards for groceries, because that is my largest budget item.
Do your calculations!
In short, MCC 5552 for EV charging is brand new. For now, you need to test your different credit cards at different EV charging stations.
I applaud all issuer initiatives and promotions on EV charging. There were none when I bought my first EV. The industry has grown so much since then!
Right now, the best credit card for EV charging stations is the CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite* Card. She gives the most with 4% cash back!
In second place were, ex-aequo :
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Here are frequently asked questions in the milesopedia community about this card.
Savings this way:
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