2025 Edition: Best Credit Cards for EV Charging

Electric vehicles (EVs) now account for approximately 20% of all new vehicle sales in Singapore, and with that figure only set to increase, it’s time we look at the best credit cards for EV charging.

Unfortunately, banks have been slow to play catch up here. While there are numerous cards rewarding petrol spend, there’s comparatively fewer with EV charging as a bonus category. 

How does EV charging code?

By right, EV charging should code as MCC 5552 Electric Vehicle Charging, but in practice there are several possibilities.

Charging Provider	MCC
Charge+	4900 Utilities
ChargEco	5552 EV Charging
CDG Engie	5552 EV Charging
Juice+	5511 Automobile and Truck Dealers
SP Group	5552 EV Charging
Shell Recharge	5541 Gas Stations
Volt	4789 Other Transportation Services

That said, Visa has published guidance saying that MCC 5552 should be used by merchants offering electric vehicle charging services to customers, so perhaps over time we’ll see some of the stragglers migrate over. 

Issuers are beginning to target EVC spend for rewards and other benefits, so it is important that these transactions are correctly classified to avoid cardholder complaints.

-Visa

If you’re uncertain about the MCC, here’s three ways of looking it up before making a purchase:

What’s the best cards to use?

If it codes as MCC 5552

Assuming your EV charging transaction codes as MCC 5552, you can use the following cards to maximise your miles. 

⚡ Best Cards for EV Charging (MCC 5552)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
SC Smart Card Apply	Up to 9.28 mpd	Min. S$1.5K per s. month, no cap
Citi Rewards Apply	4 mpd	Cap S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Cap S$1.5K per c. month
C. month= Calendar month, S. month= Statement month

The StanChart Smart Card is currently the sole card that offers bonuses for MCC 5552, but only as part of a limited-time promotion that ends on 31 December 2025.

Cardholders can earn anywhere from 3.17 to 9.28 mpd on EV charging and other bonus categories, per the table below.

An uncapped 9.28 mpd would be sensational, but of course, there’s a catch— cardholders must spend at least S$1,500 overall in a statement month to trigger this rate.

Now, it’d be great if the entire S$1,500 could be clocked entirely on bonus categories, namely EV charging, selected fast food and streaming platforms, as well as SimplyGo. But since it’s unlikely that anyone will hit S$1,500 on these categories alone, you’ll probably have to dip into the non-bonus categories, which drags down your overall earn rate.

You can earn an uncapped 7.42 mpd with a minimum spend of S$800, but even that would be tricky. Assuming a rate of S$0.70 per kWh, it’d cost about S$40 to fully charge a BYD Atto 3. Even if you’re charging an average of 1.5x a week, that’s only S$240 per month. So either you eat a lot of fast food, or you subscribe to every streaming service there is. Neither sounds ideal.

If these minimum spends concern you, I’d recommend just sticking to the tried-and-tested Citi Rewards Card and DBS Woman’s World Card, both of which will award 4 mpd on these transactions by virtue of them being processed online (I’m assuming you’re making in-app payments).

If it codes as another MCC

Now let’s look at the other four possible MCCs.

Shell Recharge codes as MCC 5541, so you can basically pick whatever credit card you’d normally use for petrol, such as:

• UOB Lady’s Card or UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card (with Transport as your bonus category) for 4 mpd, capped at S$1,000 or S$2,000 per calendar month
• UOB Visa Signature for 4 mpd, capped at S$2,000 per statement month (and subject to a minimum spend of S$1,000 on petrol and local contactless spend in a statement month)

Do not use the Maybank World Mastercard, however, as the 4 mpd bonuses for petrol are only for offline spend.

Volt codes as MCC 4789, so you should not use the Citi Rewards as this MCC falls under the general travel-related exclusion. Instead, stick to the DBS Woman’s World Card.

Charge+ codes as MCC 4900, and unfortunately the only credit cards still awarding miles for utilities are Maybank, so the best you can do is 1.2 mpd with the Maybank Visa Infinite (or, you know, hope Manchester United win).

Juice+ codes as MCC 5511, which is neither an exclusion nor bonus category for any credit card. Use the Citi Rewards or DBS Woman’s World Card here. 

Finally, if the recharging station supports contactless payments (i.e. tap to pay), then you can pay with your mobile wallet using the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa to earn 4 mpd. 

Conclusion

EV charging isn’t as common a bonus category as petrol stations just yet, but I’m hoping this will change over time. The only specialised spending card at the moment is the StanChart Smart Card, but its hefty minimum spends make it difficult to use, to say the least. 

If you have data points for other EV charging networks in Singapore, do share them!