Hypercharge supports maintaining your stored account balance in either Canadian Dollars (CAD) or US Dollars (USD). When you add balance, we will process the transaction with your bank in the currency you have selected.
You will be prompted to choose an account currency when creating your account, and can switch between currencies freely at any time, provided your balance is $0.00.
Choosing a Currency
For most users, you should select the currency of your payment card (typically your local currency) to avoid any foreign currency processing fees.
However, for users who frequently travel between Canada and the US or whose payment card is in a different currency than their local currency there may be some additional considerations.
Set your account currency during account creation
Set your account currency during account creation
Note: Hypercharge accounts currently default to CAD. If you will be storing your balance in CAD, there is no setup required!
To set your account to USD at the time of creation, follow these steps:
Use the Register button on the homepage of the app to begin setting up a new account.
Proceed to the "Add a credit card" screen and select SKIP in the upper right. You will be able to add a card on the next page.
On the "Add funds" page, go to the Balance Currency section, and tap on the Currency option. On the next screen, select USD and confirm.
If desired, select the "Add a card" option and provide your payment card information.
You can choose to add balance and turn on automatic balance refunds from the selected card at the bottom of the page before continuing.
Click Continue and proceed with the remaining steps to finish setting up your account.
Set the account currency for an existing account
Set the account currency for an existing account
Your account balance must be $0.00 to change your account currency.
You will not see the option to change currencies while you have an existing positive or negative balance. You should use or refund any existing balance - or pay any outstanding fees - before proceeding.
To convert an existing account between currencies, follow these steps:
Go to the Account tab by clicking the icon in the bottom right of the app.
If you have an existing balance, refund it by tapping the "..." icon to the right of your balance amount. If you have a negative balance, you will need to add funds to clear your outstanding fees before continuing.
Once your balance is $0.00, you should see the option to manage currencies on the Account page.
Tap on the Manage Currency option and select the desired currency, then click confirm
If this is your first time changing currencies, add a new payment method and confirm your automatic payment settings from the Account page.
Note: Your saved credit cards are associated with the currently selected currency. You will need to save a new card the first time you switch currencies. If you switch back in the future, the card(s) you saved previously will be available to you.
Additional considerations for currency selection
Additional considerations for currency selection
Hypercharge stations always bill in the local currency of the country where they are located.
Hypercharge bills your account in the selected account currency, regardless of the station currency. When the station currency and account currency differ, currency conversion is applied based on current market rates.
Hypercharge typically assesses a 2.5% fee when paying with a different currency than the local currency at the station to cover currency conversion costs. This fee is assessed on each charging session.
Many banks assess a currency conversion fee when paying in a different currency than the billing currency. If you frequently charge on stations in a different currency than your payment card, you may want to store balance in the local currency of the charging stations you use rather than your local currency.
You can change between currencies freely, provided that your balance is $0.00. If you cross the border for prolonged periods of time and use Hypercharge in both the US and Canada, it may be worthwhile to convert to the local currency when moving between countries. Consider the fees assessed by your bank when making this decision.
If your payment card is in a different currency than CAD or USD, you may want to compare the fees you pay when transacting in CAD vs USD in addition to the charging location when selecting an account currency.