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Beyond fuel: How payments and technology are evolving in 2025
As we settle into 2025, the fleet industry is undergoing a significant transformation. Commercial vehicle fleets are no longer just vehicles on the road—they are becoming integrated into a broader mobility ecosystem. Mobility is incorporating everything from car-sharing and public transportation to multi-modal solutions that prioritize efficiency and sustainability.
Major forces driving fleet industry change
This shift is driven by two major forces: customer demand and government policies. From a customer perspective, changing work patterns, evolving infrastructure, and increasing digitization are reshaping how fleets operate. On the government side, sustainability initiatives, emissions regulations, and decarbonization efforts are at play. They are pushing fleets away from traditional diesel models toward more flexible and eco-friendly solutions. In 2024, in the U.S. alone, EV sales reached 1.3 million, representing an increase of 7.3% from 2023. Global EV sales grew by 26% in 2024.
For fuel card customers, this transformation in the fleet industry presents an opportunity. The opportunity is to carry one card for all fleet-related needs. The cards of the future would expand beyond fuel-related payments. Cards will include mobility services like tolls, parking, car washes, and public transportation. This will create more seamless, integrated solutions for fleet operators.
Speaking at The UNITI Mobility Payment Forum in Hamburg, Germany, WEX Senior Director of Commercial and New Business Development, Kris Roveillo talked about WEX Plus. WEX Plus is a European product that allows customers to customize mobility budgets beyond just fuel. In this article, we’ll hear from Roveillo on the opportunities that lie ahead for customers to streamline their processes. We’ll also hear how customers can save money and access increasing amounts of valuable data to drive meaningful growth for their businesses.
What fleet customers want in a mobility payment solution
Fleet operators today are grappling with increased complexity and fragmentation. As their needs evolve, they’re looking for payment solutions that simplify operations. They also want to maintain flexibility and control. Additionally, they want their fuel cards to give them the same ease of use they find in the tools they use in their daily life. They want a fuel card that is like an Amazon or an Apple in their personal life – – you can do what you want with it, anywhere, at any time, and with ease.
As Roveillo shares, “Buyers want that same ease and simplicity and digital experience that they’re used to within their personal spending habits to be found in their B2B payments. WEX Plus has all of that. There is an app, there’s a virtual card, customers don’t need plastic issued to them. Customers have an ability to pay for EV charging, tolls, merchandise, and more.”
Top priorities for fleet customers:
As the needs of fuel card customers change, their top priorities have shifted. What they want from their fleet card providers include:
- Unified platforms – Businesses want a single provider. This provider offers one invoice, app, and portal to manage all mobility-related expenses.
- Advanced data and control – Access to Level 3 data remains critical. Fleets want to track, analyze, and manage spending effectively.
- Flexibility and customization – Solutions need to support multiple categories, provide virtual payment options, and adapt to diverse fleet needs.
Fuel card providers are looking for ways to respond to these customer priorities. With WEX Plus, customers are provided with WEX’s trusted security, convenience, and control. They also have expanded mobility features, allowing fleet operators to manage a wider range of expenses seamlessly. Your business’s fleet manager has the ability to control what Merchant Category Codes they want or need to be available for the business. They can select from a range of business expenses. These include parking, public transport, refueling, car wash, shared mobility, taxi, business travel, tolls, and catering. Depending on how a business wants certain employees to use their card, the business can turn these on and off accordingly.
How new fleet card tools help build efficiencies
As Roveillo describes it, “There’s this dichotomy where fuel card customers want simplicity and ease-of-use. But at the same time, they don’t want to sacrifice functionality. What’s beautiful about WEX Plus is that based on Merchant Category Codes, depending on how merchants are grouped, the account administrator on a per-user basis, can toggle spending abilities on and off. So for one driver, I could turn off public transportation and hotels and restaurants. I could make the card work just on fuel purchases. For another employee, on the same account, I can toggle spending to be on for all categories of spend.”
The tool allows fleet managers to set mobility budgets (the ability to limit how much a cardholder can spend in a particular category during a certain timeframe) on each of these spend categories. And this is whether using the mobile app or on a computer. Gone are the days when you needed to request a new plastic card every time you made a change to your account; everything is embedded on the magstripe on these cards. These are realtime changes you can make to your account that are applied to the individual card.
Why payments companies are transitioning from closed-loop to open-loop systems
Historically, the fleet payment industry has relied on closed-loop networks. But interoperability is now the priority, with businesses and governments pushing for solutions that work seamlessly across countries, providers, and mobility services. Thus the transition to open-loop systems.
The benefits of open-loop payment systems
Open-loop payment systems offer huge benefits for fuel card users, including the following:
- Supports multi-modal transportation – Enables integration between EVs, public transit, and shared mobility services.
- Provides richer data insights – Unlocks new analytics capabilities that help fleets optimize performance and compliance.
- Expands spending categories – Helps fleets cover more mobility-related expenses beyond fuel.
When looking at how different fuel card providers in the marketplace are responding to this transition, it is expertise in closed-loop fuel systems and strong relationships with merchants, fuel suppliers, and EV charging networks that position companies like WEX to lead the charge in this new space. “This can really be a tool that can consolidate administration for fuel card customers,” says Roveillo, “and bring all their business fleet spend onto one account.”
Navigating industry-wide changes and system integrations
The shift from vehicle-centric to mobility-centric fleet solutions impacts the entire industry. Successfully managing this transition requires collaboration, innovation, and adaptability.
By leveraging existing networks and expertise, speed-to-market is accelerated, as seen with the launch of WEX Plus in under three months.
Rather than overhauling internal systems, the best strategy for fleet card providers focuses on:
- Guiding customers through the transition
- Identifying where customers get the most value
- Building a diverse, merchant-friendly ecosystem
New use cases being explored by leading payments companies
With this new perspective on what a fuel card can do for businesses to consolidate systems and create efficiencies, the opportunities are boundless. Some of the ways a fleet card can evolve that are being considered include the following:
- Employee travel management – Providing enhanced visibility into travel expenses and fuel payments, all on one card.
- HR and finance integration – Shifting fleet payment solutions to include more HR functionality for employees.
- Enhanced data collection for merchants – Offering deeper insights into employee mobility patterns and business spending trends.
Expanding fleet payment networks for fuel and EVs
With EV adoption accelerating, fleet payment providers must evolve to connect operators with charge point operators (CPOs) and energy providers. Governments globally have implemented strategies to push businesses to find more sustainable fleet solutions. As Roveillo shares, “In the post-pandemic world that we all live in now, fleets are smaller than they used to be because the number of vehicles you need has changed. Additionally, a lot of the larger metropolitan areas in Europe, for example in London, in Paris, and in Berlin are starting to say, ‘Hey, if you want to come into city center and you want to go into this area and you’re not in an EV, you’re going to pay a penalty.’” Governments are playing a hand in mandating the move away from diesel, which is also impacting the structure of fleets.
Businesses are moving away from gasoline-powered vehicles and mixed-energy fleets are becoming the norm globally, for both sustainability and financial reasons. Battery prices continue to fall, dropping 20% in the last year alone, making EVs increasingly competitive with ICE vehicles. Battery costs are falling so fast that that EVs are expected to soon be less expensive at purchase than equivalent ICE vehicles — not just a cost savings over the lifetime of operations. The cost of fast chargers has declined by 26% in two years. The global charging infrastructure is expanding with over 250,000 new connectors added in 2024, and higher utilization proves that demand is still strong.
Partnering with a fuel card provider with the most expansive fueling and charging network will help prepare you for a mixed-energy fleet future, and for the evolution of fleet management. WEX’s fueling network already spans 95%+ of retail locations in the U.S. and extends across Europe through long-standing relationships continent-wide. Additionally, you want to partner with a provider who has access to Level III data and can give you detailed accounts of your drivers’ spend. As expansion into EV payment solutions continues for fuel card providers, partnerships with credit card companies and mobility merchants will ensure universal acceptance and competitive pricing for customers.
A vision for the future of mobility payments:
Mobility is an all-encompassing word in fleet operations now and for the most comprehensive fuel card solution the future of mobility will require:
- Building seamless connections between fleet operators and fuel/EV networks
- Ensuring interoperability across mobility providers, charge points, and transit systems
- Strengthening industry collaborations to shape the next generation of fleet payment solutions
With the WEX Plus pilot in Europe, you see an example of a fuel card provider working closely with fleet operators, regulators, and merchants to refine the approach to mobility. As the industry continues to evolve, collaboration will be key in unlocking new mobility solutions that drive efficiency, reduce costs, and support sustainability.
Final thoughts
The fleet industry is no longer just about fuel and maintenance—it’s about mobility, data, and payments working together. As customer needs evolve and government regulations push for sustainability, fleet operators require smarter, more adaptable payment solutions.
At WEX, we’re leading the charge in building an integrated, future-ready mobility payments ecosystem—one that simplifies fleet management, expands spending categories, and unlocks new opportunities for businesses worldwide.
All fleet cards are not the same, and different types of fuel cards suit the needs of different kinds and sizes of businesses. View WEX’s fleet card comparison chart to see which fleet fuel card is right for you.
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