Kia Launches European Pre-Pay Parking Service to Ease BEV Fine Woes

Kia has teamed up with pre-pay parking specialist Parkopedia in Europe, where battery-electric vehicles are being targeted for overstaying their welcome at public charging stations.

The automaker will offer consumers the service in its products beginning with the Kia EV3 compact all-electric SUV.

The brand’s in-car payment service, dubbed CarPay, will ultimately allow customers to pay for both items and services from inside the vehicle, starting with Parkopedia’s parking space booking and payment service via the vehicle’s navigation display screen.

The automaker says it recognizes the challenges of parking in big, congested European cities. Making mistakes with parking can be costly, with millions of parking tickets issued each year across the continent.

This is seen as a growing problem for BEVs, with 49% of EV owners across France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. receiving unexpected parking fines while charging.

Kia CarPay enables the customer to pay for parking through a secure transaction via a securely stored payment card, with no additional apps necessary.

Parkopedia’s parking payment service focuses primarily on outdoor and on-street parking, with the intention of expanding to indoor parking, such as parking garages, in the future. It currently provides access to more than 1.7 million parking locations in 19 European countries.

Olivier Pascal, general manager and head of connectivity, Kia Connect, says: “Bringing an easy and streamlined payment method into the vehicle is a game-changer. This is just the beginning, with CarPay set to expand in the future to include payments for a wide range of goods and services, to provide greater convenience for drivers and passengers.”