O2 UK, Telefónica’s UK arm, is working with electric vehicle charging services provider Chargemaster to  provide the firm with a machine-to-machine (M2M) communications network for its Polar charging network.

Polar is the UK’s largest private sector-funded national charging network and has been developed by Chargemaster in collaboration with electric car manufacturers. Telefónica’s M2M offering will see SIM cards embedded into each charging point, communicating back to a central database via the mobile network, ensuring that customers can quickly authorise themselves when using a charging point.

The two companies also plan to collaborate further in the development of services to help stimulate the adoption of electric vehicles and the associated charging services.

“We are committed to bringing products and services to market that help our customers live more sustainable lives,” said Gilli Coston, head of M2M at Telefónica UK. “Electric cars represent a huge potential growth area and working with Chargemaster we hope to develop a range of services to help our customers and to boost this fledgling market.”

David Martell, CEO of Chargemaster, added: “Chargemaster through its Polar network is leading the market in the expanding world of low carbon motoring. The two companies’ strengths are complementary and we very much look forward to working with Telefónica.”