Setel has rolled out a new feature that aims to make electric vehicle (EV) charging more convenient. Similar to paying for petrol, the Setel app now lets you activate an EV charging station in your car before stepping out to plug the cable into your EV. You also get to earn Mesra points for your EV charging transaction.

At the moment, the Setel EV Charging feature is only available at 5 locations and it is made possible with its partnership with JomCharge. The current locations includes Lotus’s Kepong, EV Connection Workshop, ACO HQ Johor Bahru, Carsome PJ Automall and Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Report Penang. Among the five, you can get free charging at EV Connection Workshop (22kW) and ACO HQ (180kW). The other locations charge either RM0.50 per minute (7.4kW) or RM1.20/minute (50kW).

To use Setel for EV charging, you must first go to a supported EV charging station. From the map, you are able to locate the nearest charger and set it to navigate with your preferred map app. Once you’re within close proximity, you can tap on “Start Charging” and select the type of charger available. Once the charger is connected and activated, it will start charging automatically. You are able to view the charging status remotely from the Setel app and it will also display the charging rate.

To stop charging, just unlock the charging connector from your car or charger. The amount will be deducted automatically from the Setel Wallet and you’ll receive a digital receipt. If you’ve linked your Mesra card, you will earn points as well.

According to Setel’s FAQ, there’s no minimum or maximum charging time. But you are reminded to be considerate to other EV users and to park your car at a different parking lot once you’re done with your charging. For now, you can only use the Setel wallet to pay for the EV charging, and other payment methods are said to be supported in the future. Setel users must update their app to the latest version 1.96 to use the EV charging feature.

At the time of writing, we can’t seem to find the “EV” filter on the Setel app as it only shows Petronas stations. Our device is running on Setel version 1.96.1 (21673).

[ UPDATE 25/5/2022 15:30 ]: Setel has updated the interface to show separate tabs for petrol stations and EV chargers.

The EV charging feature is currently introduced as a pilot at 5 locations and Setel says they are working hard to expand it to more locations. To learn more, you can check out Setel’s EV Charging page.