ELVO vs Tap Electric: Comparing EV Charging Software

Use this article if you:

• are looking for a Tap Electric alternative and want the differences as checkable facts
• charge drivers for sessions and want to know who pays what at your station
• install chargers and have to decide which software you put in front of your clients
• answer tenders that ask for a certified charging platform

ELVO and Tap Electric both connect stations that speak OCPP, the open protocol between a station and its management software. They differ in who pays and who the driver belongs to. Tap’s platform is free because your drivers pay Tap a fee on top of your price, or a subscription. At ELVO, drivers pay you.

We wrote this comparison in October 2026. The facts about Tap Electric come from its own website, help centre, terms and owner portal as they were at that date.

If you are shortlisting platforms right now, a 30-day free trial of ELVO opens a real account today, with no setup fee.

Why operators look for Tap Electric alternatives

Five facts decide whether the free platform suits you.

1. Drivers pay Tap’s fee on top of your price, roaming drivers included. The Tap Electric pricing page for charger owners says drivers pay a transaction fee of up to 10% “on top of the tariff you set in the platform”. A driver without a Tap subscription pays the full 10%. In Tap’s owner portal, a tariff of €0.50 per kWh puts a 10 kWh session at €5.00 on Tap’s top plan and at €5.50 under “Guest and roaming drivers”. The portal adds: “Tap’s fees and VAT are added on top of your tariff where applicable.”
2. Tap Electric buys your charging and resells it to your drivers. Its terms say Tap “purchases those Charging Supplies for onward supply” and “collects payment in its own name”. A driver who pays in the Tap app is Tap’s customer. You are paid from a monthly self-billing invoice, which Tap writes on your behalf for what it bought from you. Tap’s help centre gives the timing: “you would receive payment for all sessions that ended in March by the end of April.”
3. The contract lets Tap start charging you later. The terms say: “Currently, Tap Electric does not charge any fees to Management Account Holder, but reserves the right to do so in the future”. The Management Account Holder is you, the owner of the chargers.
4. Tap Electric has no OCPP certificate in the public registry. A tender that asks for a certified platform asks for a certificate number. We checked all 1,484 entries in the Open Charge Alliance registry, and none carries the Tap Electric name.
5. Tap Electric refuses signup from some countries, France included. It publishes no country list for charger owners. Its driver FAQ names eight countries, France among them, yet signup from a French internet connection is refused. A Dutch account can add only four more countries: the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland and Guernsey. The platform comes in English and Dutch only.

ELVO vs Tap Electric comparison

Axis	ELVO	Tap Electric
Technical capabilities
OCPP certification, verifiable in the Open Charge Alliance registry	Certificate OCA.0016.1071.CSMS, Full and Security, registered June 2025. Full means every optional part of the protocol passed, downloadable from the registry	No certificate in the registry as of October 2026, checked across all 1,484 entries. Ask the vendor for a certificate number
Station-to-platform security	Encrypted connection between station and platform available (WebSocket Secure, the encrypted form of the station connection). The test of the encrypted connection passed	Its connection guides show an encrypted connection (WebSocket Secure) for some brands. No Security certificate in the registry
Hardware coverage	Hardware-agnostic by design, one platform for any brand; compatible with 700+ charger models across AC and DC (vendor-stated)	Any OCPP compliant charger (vendor-stated). The help centre has more than 70 step-by-step connection guides, per brand or model
Who the driver pays, and when you get the money	The driver pays in the ELVO driver app and the money goes straight to you. ELVO invoices its fee to you monthly, with the subscription	Tap buys the charging from you, resells it to the driver and collects payment in its own name. You are paid within 30 days of a monthly self-billing invoice. Without a VAT number, Tap issues a payment receipt instead and pays out the sessions without VAT
What the driver pays at your station	The price you set	The price you set plus Tap’s transaction fee: 10% for roaming drivers and drivers without a Tap plan, less, down to 0%, on Tap’s driver plans. The plans differ by country
Load management across stations	Included: you set a power cap for the site, and ELVO redistributes it across the stations that are charging, from the cloud, with no extra hardware on site	Included: fixed power limits set in advance (static load balancing). A paid add-on follows the building’s live load through an external meter, at GBP 2 per charger per month, arranged with Tap’s sales team
Roaming with other charging networks	OCPI, the protocol for roaming between networks, implemented in both directions: your locations and sessions go out to roaming partners, and theirs come in	You can open your chargers to roaming in the free platform
Driver app	ELVO driver app for iOS and Android, included	The Tap app, which Tap also offers drivers for public networks, with paid subscriptions and its own charge card.
Offer and commercial terms
Published price	One public price per station per month that covers the whole platform, on the ELVO pricing section	GBP 0 per month for the platform, with unlimited chargers. Paid add-ons: dynamic load balancing GBP 2 per charger per month, contactless terminals GBP 15 per terminal per month, SIM and data GBP 15 per year or per 250 MB, whichever comes first
Transaction fee on paid sessions	One fee, invoiced to you once a month with the subscription and published next to the price	Paid by your drivers to Tap, up to 10% per session depending on the driver’s Tap plan. No fee for owners today; the terms reserve the right to add one
Setup fee and commitment	No setup fee; monthly, cancel at any time	No upfront costs and no contracts (vendor-stated)
Self-service signup	Yes, with a 30-day free trial	Yes, free
Installer and partner routes	Self-service with resale at your own price, or a partner program that pays you a share of the invoices for the stations you install. White-label under your own brand is a separate contract	A Service Plan: monthly fees, a setup fee or a revenue share you set per customer, collected by Tap, which keeps 20% of the payouts. A white-label offer, Tap Reseller, arranged by email
Branded driver app	Included in the Enterprise (Managed) plan	No branded app on the pricing page. The white-label offer, Tap Reseller, is arranged by email

Tap Electric lines come from Tap Electric’s own website, help centre, terms and owner portal in October 2026; ELVO lines come from elvo.io. Tap Electric shows its prices in pounds on its English site. Figures that are a company claim on either side are marked vendor-stated. The ELVO lines describe the self-service plan unless the row says otherwise.

What is free at Tap Electric, and who pays for it

What is free. The free platform covers charger access and tariffs, payment collection and payouts, session reports and roaming. It also covers static load balancing and charging schedules, with no limit on the number of chargers.

Who pays for it. Your drivers pay. In Tap Electric’s words, the company “earns a subscription or transaction fee from drivers, keeping the software free for charger owners, installers and operators”. It also sells paid hardware add-ons. A driver can lower the fee with a Tap subscription.

If drivers do not pay per session at your chargers, Tap earns nothing from your site. The platform costs you nothing today, and clause 16.3 already lets Tap start charging owners later. If drivers do pay, a session started in the Tap app carries Tap’s fee on top of your price, unless the driver pays for Tap’s top plan.

Where Tap Electric is the stronger choice

Zero software cost for the owner. Tap Electric charges you nothing, at any number of chargers. The cost sits with the driver, and a driver on Tap’s Premium plan pays no transaction fee.

More than 70 connection guides, per charger brand. The Tap help centre has step-by-step guides for connecting chargers, written per brand or model.

Where ELVO is the stronger choice

Drivers pay you directly, at your price, with no fee added. Drivers start, stop and pay in the ELVO driver app. The money goes straight to you. ELVO invoices its transaction fee to you once a month, together with the subscription. How to set prices per kWh and per minute is covered in our EV charging billing guide.

Resell ELVO to your clients, at your own price. On the Standard plan you buy ELVO at the public price per station and resell the subscription to your clients at the price you choose, on your own invoice. The margin is yours, and the plan includes client and partner management. ELVO’s price per station and its transaction fee are public on the ELVO pricing section. At Tap Electric, an installer sets a Service Plan for each client: a monthly fee per charger or per connector, a setup fee or a share of charging revenue. The installer portal states: “Tap charges a 20% fee on service plan payouts.”

White-label: your own branded driver app. On the Enterprise plan, drivers download an app with your brand, not ELVO’s. ELVO also builds custom integrations, new features and whole new modules for you. The plan comes with a dedicated account manager and priority support.

User roles, including read-only access. ELVO has nine standard roles on three account levels, including an auditor who sees everything and changes nothing. In Tap’s portal, every administrator has full access.

OCPP certificate OCA.0016.1071.CSMS, Full and Security. You can download the certificate from the Open Charge Alliance. When a tender asks for a certified platform, you give it this number.

Which one fits your operation

Tap Electric fits if you want no software bill and you are comfortable with your drivers paying Tap’s fee. It also fits if your drivers already use the Tap app and its charge card on public networks.

Pick ELVO if drivers pay and you want them to pay you, at your price. It gives you one price you can put in a quote and a certificate number for tenders.

Moving between the two works the same way in both directions. You change the OCPP URL in each station, which is the address the station uses to reach its platform, and restart it. For some brands, the change needs a site visit. Our guide to moving chargers to a new platform covers the steps.

Try ELVO free for 30 days. You need no sales call and sign no contract. Connect one station, run a paid session, and compare the two on your own hardware.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Tap Electric alternative if I want drivers to pay me directly?

ELVO, a complete platform from one vendor: station management, the driver app, payments, billing and roaming, at one public price per station per month. Drivers pay at your price, and the money goes straight to you. At Tap Electric, Tap resells your charging to the driver and collects the payment itself.

Is Tap Electric really free?

For charger owners, installers and operators, yes, as of October 2026. Your drivers pay instead. A driver without a Tap subscription pays a 10% transaction fee on top of your tariff. Tap’s terms add that it charges owners no fees today but reserves the right to do so in the future.

How much do drivers pay at a charger managed with Tap Electric?

Your tariff plus Tap’s transaction fee, as of October 2026. The fee is 10% for drivers without a Tap plan. Tap’s driver plans lower it, down to 0% on the top plan, and the plans differ by country. On the English site, the paid plans cost GBP 2 and GBP 5 a month.

When does Tap Electric pay charger owners?

Once a month. Early each month, Tap creates a self-billing invoice for the previous month’s sessions, then pays within 30 days of that invoice. Tap’s help centre gives the example: sessions that ended in March are paid by the end of April. The terms let Tap set a minimum payout of 10 euros, with smaller amounts carried over.

Is Tap Electric OCPP certified?

As of October 2026, the Open Charge Alliance certified products registry lists no certificate under the Tap Electric name. We checked all 1,484 entries. Ask the vendor for a certificate number and check it in the registry yourself.

Who is Tap Electric?

Tap Electric B.V. is an Amsterdam startup founded in 2020. As an e-mobility service provider, it sells drivers access to other companies’ chargers through its app, subscriptions and charge card. Its second product is a free platform for charger owners and installers, paid for by driver fees, driver subscriptions and hardware add-ons.

Can I move my chargers from Tap Electric to ELVO?

Yes. A station connects to one platform at a time, so you change the OCPP URL in each station to the one ELVO gives you, then restart it. Some brands need a site visit for the change. Keep a copy of your invoices and session reports from Tap before you switch.

Read next

• EV charging billing: how to charge drivers for sessions
• EV charging software cost: the pricing models explained
• White-label charging software for installers

Sources

• Tap Electric pricing for charger owners, platform price, add-ons, how Tap makes money and the driver fee
• Tap Electric pricing for drivers, driver plans and transaction fees
• Tap Electric terms and conditions, version of 9 September 2026, clauses 11, 15 and 16
• Tap Electric help centre, general charger management FAQ, payout timing and the driver fee
• Tap Electric help centre, dynamic load balancing, meter and cost
• Tap Electric help centre, installers and operators FAQ, Service Plans and Tap Reseller
• Tap Electric help centre, charger onboarding guides
• Tap Electric FAQ, company, e-mobility service provider role and the countries named for drivers
• Tap Electric owner portal, tariff price preview, account country settings and the installer Service Plan fee, October 2026
• Open Charge Alliance certified products registry
• Open Charge Alliance, ELVO certificate OCA.0016.1071.CSMS

ELVO Team. We operate CPMS for manufacturers, distributors, installers, and operators across Europe and beyond.

Published 14 October 2026.