Circle K relies on Plugsurfing for its roaming service.

Circle K, the convenience store chain, is expanding its public charging options for its eMobility platform beyond its own network of chargers. Through Plugsurfing, customers will soon have access to over a million charging points across Europe.

The technical foundation for this partnership is Plugsurfing’s Roam-OCPI solution. According to Plugsurfing, Circle K can use this to implement roaming capabilities via existing infrastructure and established processes, thereby reducing integration efforts and accelerating deployment in various markets.

Circle-K customers will thus be able to access charging points operated by other providers within Plugsurfing’s roaming network in the future, even outside of the chain’s own gas station charging stations. According to Plugsurfing, its network includes more than one million charging points in Europe, including those operated by Ionity, Fastned, and Allego. The announcement does not specify which countries or starting when Circle K will offer this expanded charging access through its service. “By connecting customers to a broader charging network, we make it easier to charge at Circle-K locations and beyond,” says Elin Bøe, Commercial Director for eMobility at Circle K Europe.

"More and more charging station operators are also becoming eMSPs and looking for ways to provide drivers with access beyond their own infrastructure," says Tom Rowlands, Managing Director Global EV Solutions at Corpay. With Roam OCPI, Plugsurfing takes on part of the workload behind such services, allowing partners to avoid having to build and maintain connections to other charging networks on their own.

Circle K, on the other hand, is part of the Canadian retail and mobility company Alimentation Couche-Tard, which operates nearly 17,300 locations in 27 countries and regions. In Europe, the brand is available in Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland. In Germany, the company reached 100 fast-charging locations by June. In Sweden, it claims to be the preferred charging provider with over 1,000 charging points. Across Europe, the company’s charging network currently includes more than 4,400 charging points.

Circle K is not the first major partner for Plugsurfing to adopt Roam OCPI. In May, the charging platform provider Ampeco integrated the Managed-Roaming solution. Plugsurfing handles tasks such as managing relationships with CPOs, providing consolidated monthly billing, and validating charging data sets. Another customer followed at the end of June with Monta.

The partnership with Ayvens is somewhat different: the leasing provider uses Plugsurfing’s white-label solution, Ayvens Power, for its charging service. The rollout began in February in the Netherlands, with additional markets such as Germany set to follow later this year. Unlike the Roam-OCPI integrations, Plugsurfing not only provides backend roaming functionality here but also forms the basis for a charging service under the partner’s brand.