From Fuel Card to Smart Charger: How Fleet Technology Is Solving Home Charging Reimbursement
WORDS BY JETCHARGE
Fleet technology is changing fast, and home charging is where you’ ll feel it first. Here’ s how smart chargers make reimbursing drivers just as simple as plugging in.
For decades, the fuel card made paying for fuel simple. As fleets go electric, the smart charger is taking its place, and it’ s changing how fleets track, pay for and report on energy. Our 14 October webinar with AfMA ran well past the hour, with the core theme top of mind for presenters and audience alike: who pays for home charging, and how?
We asked Tom Dwyer, Business Development Manager, Fleet at JET Charge, to answer the questions fleet managers asked most.
Why does home charging matter so much?
Put simply, take-home vehicles sit still for eight to ten hours a night. That’ s the perfect time to charge. Once a dedicated home charger is installed, we’ ve seen early adopters do around 90 % of their charging at home. Public charging becomes the backup, and home electricity is generally cheaper, before you even count the time drivers save.
With petrol, the driver taps a fuel card. What changes?
Now the employee is supplying electricity to a company vehicle from their own home. Some own, some rent, some have solar or batteries, and tariffs vary across the country. On top of that, the power bill covers the whole house, not just the car. The goal is simple: the driver isn’ t out of pocket, and the business isn’ t overpaying.
Can’ t we manage that ourselves?
At five or ten vehicles, maybe. At 100 or 500, you’ re juggling individual charging records, reimbursement calculations, payroll, driver questions and reporting. And if a charger drops offline and sessions aren’ t recorded, the numbers stop adding up.
Where does the technology come in?
This is where it does the heavy lifting. A connected charger measures exactly what each vehicle uses, replacing the fuel card receipt with accurate, session-by-session data. Apply an agreed rate, and the reporting flows straight to payroll and finance. In the best setups, the fleet manager gets one report a month and shares it with payroll and sustainability. Got a personal EV at home too? Drivers tap on with a separate access card for each vehicle, and the reporting keeps business and personal charging apart.
Should we buy chargers or subscribe?
Owning can suit a small pilot, but then the maintenance, connectivity, support and data collection are all on you. With a subscription( often called Charging as a Service), your provider takes care of installation, monitoring, driver support, faults and reporting. When a driver leaves, the
36 ISSUE 61 OCTOBER 2026 / WWW. AFMA. ORG. AU