Analysis: the big oil firms adapting to the EV era

“What’s really good to see from BP and Shell is that they’re actually putting substantial investments into infrastructure, and the quality of their product is really good.”

This view was confirmed in Zap-Map’s 2020 survey, which asked British drivers which of 15 public EV charging networks owners regularly used. BP Pulse came out top, with 40%, while 11% said they used Shell Newmotion. The same proportion said they used Tesla’s Supercharger network, although notably this came top for customer satisfaction.

At its 2021 Strategy Day, Shell announced that it would expand its global network of EV chargers from 60,000 today to more than 500,000 by 2025. Beyond that, it says it could have 2.5 million in place by 2030. And its purchase of Ubitricity last month hugely expanded its UK network with 2700 on-street chargers.

However, Shell is playing catch-up with BP, which already has over 8000 charge points across the country through its BP Pulse brand as part of a long-term strategy.

“We’re moving from being an international oil company to an integrated energy company,” said Richard Bartlett, BP’s senior vice-president of future mobility and solutions. “We made a firm commitment around becoming a net-zero-emissions company by 2050 or sooner. Our vision is very much around how we democratise the provision of affordable clean, low-carbon mobility. We’re looking at doing that in the key markets where EV penetration is or will be high.”

Bartlett is faced with the task of tailoring solutions for different markets around the world. In China, 90% of EV charging is done at public sites, because the majority of the population live in apartments. But in the UK, 60% of drivers have off-street parking at home, from where they can use a 7kW wallbox overnight. Even so, the demand for more public chargers with faster speeds and better reliability is increasing rapidly here.

“We believe a large percentage of the market want affordable, reliable, fast charging,” Bartlett said. “Once you overcome range anxiety by laying out the fast infrastructure, the next piece is all around the reliability, the service levels and the convenience of those locations, so that people don’t have to worry about it.”

BP has also announced that it will make £2 million available to update old charging facilities installed by local councils, with more than 50 chargers already earmarked to be replaced.

At the same time, we can expect more charging hubs to appear. BP operates the busiest one in the UK, in Hammersmith, London, and will shortly be announcing more. Shell is also planning them, with its first due to open in Fulham, London, this year.

Motorway charging is also being addressed by the oil gians and the government. Ultra-rapid chargers are due to go live shortly at three at BP motorway forecourts in England and two in Scotland.

At the same time, the Department for Transport has announced that it aims to have at least six rapid chargers in every motorway services car park by 2023, with a minimum charging rate of 150kW, and it has made £950m available to assist investment from the private sector. It expects there to be 2500 EV chargers across motorways and A-roads by 2030 and 6000 by 2035.

Rural locations remain problematic, but both BP and Shell say they have a solution.

BP is working with American charging technology company Freewire, whose Boost Charger system can raise three-phase power to 120kW using an extra battery, effectively providing a fast-charging service that can be installed anywhere in a couple of hours. It’s also substantially cheaper: Autocar understands that the Freewire units could be installed for less than a third of the £2.5m quoted for a new grid connection at one particular site for a row of four fast chargers in a remote location.