EV payment specialist Paythru has appointed Paul Ayres as chief commercial officer as it scales its purpose-built payments platform across the UK and European markets.

Ayres joins Paythru from Connected Kerb, the charging infrastructure company that he co-founded in 2017 and helped rapidly grow into one of the UK’s largest public EV charging networks. He previously held senior commercial roles at leading software companies.

In his new role, Ayres will drive Paythru’s commercial strategy, focusing on revenue growth, team development and go-to-market optimisation. His remit centres on helping charge point operators (CPOs) maximise utilisation, capture more revenue and build sustainable business models through intelligent payment orchestration.

Ayres said there is growing recognition that payments are a critical enabler for operator success and a key differentiator in an increasingly competitive market.

He commented: “Whilst the industry’s attention is on the hardware – more chargers, faster connectors – payments are actually the ‘front door’ to the entire charging experience. Get that right, and everything else works better: higher utilisation, stronger customer loyalty, better economics.

“That’s what drew me to Paythru. The company understands that the real breakthroughs in EV charging will come from making payments seamless, universal and trusted.”

Keith Brown, founder and CEO of Paythru, said: “The payment experience directly impacts charger performance and operator profitability – yet it often receives far less attention than it deserves. Paul is the ideal person to help us change that.”