More Ways to Pay at Israel’s Gas Stations

Hyp, the largest payment solutions company in Israel, is completing a 10 million shekel project to transfer all of the gas stations of the largest companies in Israel to EMV technology.

By the end of this week, hundreds of gas stations will complete the transition to the international EMV standard. As a result, gas stations in Israel will accept payments via contactless credit cards, smartphones and smartwatches. In most cases, there will be no need to enter a pin code, and the final charge is automatically updated at the end of the fueling.

In the past, gas stations were considered a major target for fraud attempts due to the use of cards with magnetic strips. Now, with the use of smart chips and real-time transaction management on central servers, the level of security and control has increased significantly. This is a step that aligns with other commercial sectors that have already adopted the standard, and the move will improve the level of security, reduce fraud and simplify the payment experience at stations.

It should be noted that implementing the EMV standard in the fuel industry is considered a complex technological task because the transaction amount is not known in advance. To work around this, at the beginning of the process a temporary limit is assigned on the card, which is only updated to the exact amount at the end of the refueling.

The changeover has taken about two years and included the conversion of thousands of gas pumps and payment terminals. It was carried out in collaboration with the fuel companies, the Israeli National Bank, credit card companies and technology providers in the field - led by Hyp. The company's CEO Eyal Shimoni said the change modernizes Israel’s payment infrastructure, “This move makes transactions safer, simpler, and faster - creating a more transparent and reliable system for both consumers and station owners.”