Any EV charger credit cards?

[potam]

Ok so maybe a dumb question. Growing up, my parents always had a BP credit card, mainly just as insurance that they would never be stranded if for whatever reason they were flat broke and needed gas. But I assume that there were benefits for using that card at BP stations: whether it was cash back or points or whatever.

So my question is: are there any credit cards that offer specific rewards/bonuses when used to pay for charging?

edit: all I’ve found so far are just suggestions to use a CC with best % cash back, so I’m thinking the answer is no. But if someone knows any secrets, I’m all ears

 

[ucmndd]

None that I'm aware of. I second the suggestion you've already found of selecting the best all-around card for your purposes and then setting that as the payment method for any charging networks you use.

 

[Rocky_H]

Here's a funny thing. I saw your thread when you posted it in November, and I thought, "Huh, don't know of any." And then today, someone commented on an old thread I had seen before from back in July, which I then did remember seeing but had forgotten. Here is that thread about a credit card that pays 5X reward points for EV charging.

Credit Card gives 5x points for EV Charging

Got a recent email that Penfed Credit Union now gives 5x points for EV Charging on their Platinum Rewards Visa Card: Need to update my Tesla Account to my Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa. For those that Supercharge often looks like an easy way to pile up some points!

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[andy92782]

If you're in the "Platinum" Preferred Rewards category at BofA, their Premium Rewards VISA pays 3.5% cash back for Travel category purchases. This applies to Chargepoint. But I charge so infrequently using public charging that it doesn't really matter.

 

[potam]

Here's a funny thing. I saw your thread when you posted it in November, and I thought, "Huh, don't know of any." And then today, someone commented on an old thread I had seen before from back in July, which I then did remember seeing but had forgotten. Here is that thread about a credit card that pays 5X reward points for EV charging.

Credit Card gives 5x points for EV Charging

Got a recent email that Penfed Credit Union now gives 5x points for EV Charging on their Platinum Rewards Visa Card: Need to update my Tesla Account to my Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa. For those that Supercharge often looks like an easy way to pile up some points!

teslamotorsclub.com

I didn’t see any follow up info in that thread unfortunately.

If you're in the "Platinum" Preferred Rewards category at BofA, their Premium Rewards VISA pays 3.5% cash back for Travel category purchases. This applies to Chargepoint. But I charge so infrequently using public charging that it doesn't really matter.

Any idea if it applies to SCs? May look into that.

 

[andy92782]

Any idea if it applies to SCs? May look into that.

I'm fairly confident that SCs are not considered Travel category, so on the Bofa PR VISA you would earn the base rate (which could be up to 2.62% cash back depending on your BofA Preferred Rewards status)

 

[KenC]

Seems strange, if gas is considered travel, why wouldn't EV charging be the same?

 

[andy92782]

Seems strange, if gas is considered travel, why wouldn't EV charging be the same?

I need to take back what I said earlier about the BofA Premium Rewards cards. It seems they no longer consider EV charging to be a "Travel" category item. I just checked my statement and recent Chargepoint charges were only rewarded the base amount (2.62% cash back for Platinum tier customers rather than the 3.5% a "Travel" category purchase would have earned). Chargepoint uses the "ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING" VISA merchant code.

BofA never considered gas to be "Travel" in the same way hotels or airline tickets are considered "Travel".

It would be interesting to see if other credit cards (such as Amex or Chase Sapphire) consider EV charging to be a travel category item. BofA certainly does not, unfortunately.

 

[dskillz]

I can confirm that PenFed does indeed give you 5X points when Supercharging with their Platinum Rewards Visa.

 

[RiceFam]

@potam I joined the Tesla family only a few months ago (Nov 2021), and have been thinking a lot about this question. One of my hobbies happens to be collecting hotel and airline points through credit cards (travel hacking), so this sounded like a fun thing to do some research on.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Find an EV station company that categorizes themselves to credit card companies as a travel or transportation company, then use a credit card that gets you bonus points on Travel such as Chase Sapphire Reserve (which gets 3x points on travel including gas stations, parking, toll). So far, I haven't had much luck in this particular category. Most of the EV charging companies I have tried categorize themselves as internet software companies. I imagine this category might expand out in the future as credit card companies might start inviting EV companies to be listed in an EV category. I'm building out a list right now on Google Sheets of different EV companies and what category their charges get categorized as. I'll post if I ever find one that triggers a travel category bonus.
2. Use the Chase Ink Business Credit Card which gets 5x points at office supply stores like Staples / Office Max / Office Depot to purchase prepaid Visa cards. You can then use these cards to pay for charging. It's fairly easy to add it to your Tesla.com account for supercharging. The downside of this method is that it can get annoying to have to keep purchasing the prepaid Visa cards, and also having to add new ones to your forms of payment for your EV Profile. If you're not used to doing something like this, or if you aren't comfortable with opening up a Chase Ink Business Credit Card, this probably won't be an ideal option.
3. Use the M1 Owner's Credit Card which gets 10% back on Tesla purchases including supercharging. This is actually my current preferred route, and what I currently started using. M1finance.com is a competitor to Robinhood, and last year they launched their own branded credit card that gets you 10% back in purchases from certain companies - including Tesla - that you own stock with. The stock ownership can be as little as owning a partial share worth a few bucks. You get your "cashback" in the form of the stock though. For example, if I spend $1,000 on Tesla superchargers and use my M1 Owner's Credit Card as the payment, I'll get 10% or $100 back in additional Tesla stock. (Again, you can get partial/fractional stock on M1 Finance, so it'll come to me as a fractional stock payment.) Since Tesla is part of my portfolio and I'm happy with being paid with more Tesla stock, this is a great option for me. This may not make sense though for anyone who doesn't want to hold Tesla stock. You could sell it immediately, but keep in mind you pay capital gains tax on profits. The other downside is that it costs $125/year to upkeep a M1 Finance Plus account. The Plus account waives the annual fee for the credit card itself. Details on the card here: The Owner's Rewards Card by M1

I'm open to any creative thoughts if I missed anything.

 

[potam]

@potam I joined the Tesla family only a few months ago (Nov 2021), and have been thinking a lot about this question. One of my hobbies happens to be collecting hotel and airline points through credit cards (travel hacking), so this sounded like a fun thing to do some research on.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Find an EV station company that categorizes themselves to credit card companies as a travel or transportation company, then use a credit card that gets you bonus points on Travel such as Chase Sapphire Reserve (which gets 3x points on travel including gas stations, parking, toll). So far, I haven't had much luck in this particular category. Most of the EV charging companies I have tried categorize themselves as internet software companies. I imagine this category might expand out in the future as credit card companies might start inviting EV companies to be listed in an EV category. I'm building out a list right now on Google Sheets of different EV companies and what category their charges get categorized as. I'll post if I ever find one that triggers a travel category bonus.
2. Use the Chase Ink Business Credit Card which gets 5x points at office supply stores like Staples / Office Max / Office Depot to purchase prepaid Visa cards. You can then use these cards to pay for charging. It's fairly easy to add it to your Tesla.com account for supercharging. The downside of this method is that it can get annoying to have to keep purchasing the prepaid Visa cards, and also having to add new ones to your forms of payment for your EV Profile. If you're not used to doing something like this, or if you aren't comfortable with opening up a Chase Ink Business Credit Card, this probably won't be an ideal option.
3. Use the M1 Owner's Credit Card which gets 10% back on Tesla purchases including supercharging. This is actually my current preferred route, and what I currently started using. M1finance.com is a competitor to Robinhood, and last year they launched their own branded credit card that gets you 10% back in purchases from certain companies - including Tesla - that you own stock with. The stock ownership can be as little as owning a partial share worth a few bucks. You get your "cashback" in the form of the stock though. For example, if I spend $1,000 on Tesla superchargers and use my M1 Owner's Credit Card as the payment, I'll get 10% or $100 back in additional Tesla stock. (Again, you can get partial/fractional stock on M1 Finance, so it'll come to me as a fractional stock payment.) Since Tesla is part of my portfolio and I'm happy with being paid with more Tesla stock, this is a great option for me. This may not make sense though for anyone who doesn't want to hold Tesla stock. You could sell it immediately, but keep in mind you pay capital gains tax on profits. The other downside is that it costs $125/year to upkeep a M1 Finance Plus account. The Plus account waives the annual fee for the credit card itself. Details on the card here: The Owner's Rewards Card by M1

I'm open to any creative thoughts if I missed anything.

Ok, definitely going to look into option 3. That sounds very interesting. Thanks!

 

[benhinc]

I happened to do a search on this recently and found this information about US Bank credit cards adding EV charging to its existing gas station tier for rewards. The release below claims the reward can be up to 4x, but this is for a card that has a $95 annual fee. Other cards pay 2x for EV charging. I included a link to their product offerings below.

US Bank has expanded the rewards offered under its business and consumer credit cards that put electric vehicle (EV) charging transactions on par with gas station purchases.

Cardholders will now be able to earn up to 4x points or 4% cash back for their EV charging transactions.

The EV charging transaction rewards are based on the same terms and conditions that members otherwise get when using their cards for gas station purchases.

US Bank Retail Payment Solutions head Steve Mattics said: “We have expanded our card rewards to put EV charging transactions on par with gas.

“We are continuously evaluating our credit card offerings to ensure we provide meaningful rewards to our customers, and as options for fuelling vehicles expand from gas to a mix of gas and electric charging, we are making sure that our cards follow our customers’ needs and preferences.”

The US has around 45,000 public EV charging stations, according to the US Department of Energy.

US Bancorp is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. It has nearly 70,000 employees and $567bn in assets as of 30 September 2021.

The firm caters to millions of customers through a combination of businesses: Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; Corporate & Commercial Banking; and Wealth Management and Investment Services.

Here's a link to their credit card information: Credit Cards | Apply online | U.S. Bank

Click the "Cash Back" filter to see two cards that offer 2x. Click the "Points" or "Travel" filter to view the Altitude Connect Visa Signature card, with 4x EV charging and a $95 annual fee.