Press releases Helen Oy has opened two new high-power charging stations in Helsinki and Luumäki. The stations, located at the Redi shopping centre in Helsinki and at Taavetintori in Luumäki, are both equipped with the TouchPayGo payment unit.
TouchPayGo is a smart, touchscreen-operated payment unit. A single device enables convenient card payments and receipt delivery for multiple charging stations of all sizes. It also allows differentiated pricing between charging points, e.g. based on charging power or the type of charging.
According to Päivi Linteri, Product Development Manager at Helen, the installation of the new payment devices went very smoothly. The devices have been operating reliably, and customers have used them for charging daily.
“The installation of the payment devices was easy. Commissioning of the TouchPayGo units went quickly thanks to the close cooperation between Helen and ParkChargePay, the supplier of the devices,” Linteri says.
A Straightforward but Precise Deployment Process
Installing and commissioning the payment unit is a multi-stage process. The actual installation of the device at the charging station is straightforward: the TouchPayGo unit is mounted and connected to power. Helen conducted the installation work as part of the charging station construction project.
After the physical installation comes integration with the payment and charging management systems
“We delivered the necessary payment data to ParkChargePay—such as merchant ID, device identity and charging point numbering. In addition, we managed ourselves the communication with other relevant stakeholders,” Linteri explains.
“From Helen’s perspective, the integration with ParkChargePay appeared just like any other OCPI integration. ParkChargePay was already available in our OCPI library, so enabling the connection was incredibly easy,” Linteri adds.
The final test run was conducted jointly by Helen and ParkChargePay, after which the devices have been operating flawlessly.
One of the advantages of the ParkChargePay system is its scalability: a single merchant ID and payment device can serve an entire charging site, regardless of the number of chargers. This also makes future expansions effortless.
TouchPayGo Works With All Charging Devices
TouchPayGo’s strong integrability was one of Helen’s key reasons for choosing it. For example, no new APIs were required — TouchPayGo was connected directly to Helen’s existing system. TouchPayGo also operates independently, meaning no direct connection to the charger hardware was needed.
“For Helen, it was important to centralize the payment solutions,” Linteri notes.
Card payment terminals are installed partly due to requirements in the EU’s AFIR legislation. Charging operators must enable payment by bank card without requiring a customer account or mobile app. This requirement applies to all new charging stations above 50 kW from 2024 onwards. Starting 2027, the same will apply to older high-power stations as well.
Older stations usually include a variety of charger models, making it challenging to retrofit payment terminals directly into the hardware. TouchPayGo’s hardware-independent design works well even with older equipment, as no changes or updates to the chargers are needed. TouchPayGo uses the existing connections between chargers and their control systems, so nothing needs to be rebuilt for the payment device.
In addition to electric vehicle charging, Helen Oy provides electricity, heating and cooling services. Helen has around 800 charging points across Finland, with the largest concentration in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
ParkChargePay is a brand of Semel Oy, a Finnish company with over 50 years of experience in reliable and secure payment solutions for passenger transport in the Nordic countries.
