European drivers of electric vehicles can now pay to recharge their cars using cryptocurrencies, following a tie-up between two fintech payment platforms that will offer this payment option at 50,000 charging stations across the region. Vourity, a Swedish payments firm, and Hips Payment Group said that this week they had teamed up to make this option possible for EV users. Hips' network has its own crypto token - MTO - and its blockchain-based payments process aims to match the consumer protections offered by credit-card providers. We want to make it easy for drivers to charge their car, and offering an open platform that allows for crypto payments is the most logical choice for our next-generation world," Hans Nottehed, CEO of Vourity, said in a statement.

Users will now be able to use crypto payments alongside Google Pay, Apple Pay, Swish and Bluecode, reflecting the gradual mainstream adoption of digital assets, the two companies said. "We are really pleased to announce this partnership as we believe it is forward-thinking on many fronts; allowing the use of crypto payments will make charging convenient for all EV drivers, which will accelerate the move to an all-electric-vehicle future," John Cavebring, CEO of Ireland-based Hips, said in a statement.

In 2019, Europe was second after China in electric vehicle usage with 561,000 cars sold, based on figures from the International Energy Agency, although the pandemic has curtailed demand. Electric cars are one of the key ways the IEA is encouraging countries to reach zero emissions by 2050.

The impact of cryptocurrencies on the environment due the amount of fossil-fuel energy it takes to mine them has surfaced as a major concern around the wider use of digital assets.

Hips' token is underpinned by Ethereum 2.0 but can also use the cardano network, both of which are more environmentally friendly than using bitcoin.