Shell buys UK’s largest electric vehicle charging network

With more and more electric cars on the roads, the demand for the gas stations will decrease and some of them will close. Finding a gas station will become more difficult. It seems that most of the other owners are not thinking long term what will be the effect on their business.

The story is about the world after man has invented teleportation. Aside from being a handy way for the mafia to dispose of bodies, it also made burning dinosaurs unnecessary for transportation. So all of the big oil companies went into water. They became Shell Oil and Water, Exxon Oil and Water, British Fluids, etc.

The mystery for me - why don't they all work on contactless payment? (like Instavolt does) That way, I don't need an app, account, tracking or anything else - just tap my card and start charging.

I've been driving EVs in the UK for 5 years or so and I've never heard of Ubitricity so is this bullshit, or do Ubitricity own someone lower down like ChargeYourCar or something like that?

edit: Ah here we go, seems like they might be big in London

https://insideevs.com/news/457155/ubitricity-largest-public-...

ubitricity's approach is slightly unusual, compared to the typical charging networks, as it uses a lamppost or bollard, equipped with Type 2 AC charging sockets. Because there is already an electricity connection, the company reduces the installation cost and time.

It's quite interesting also from EV drivers' perspective (especially if they don't have their own parking space), as there are now streets in London where every lamppost has been retrofitted with an ubitricity charging point.

With the increased time to ‘fill up’ with electricity it would make this more appealing to the companies

Hopefully this is another data point that trends in the same direction.

1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2020/08/31/unreasonab...

The main concern seems to be whether they can make the cultural switch in management as there are quite a few "old hands" in middle management that are quite attached to the fossil fuel sector that they grew up with. On the other hand, the CEO and board seem fully on board so we'll see how it plays out. In the coming weeks with the annual report they are expected to present a new strategy document for the coming decade with more details on how they plan to go about it. This is a company that has tens of billions per year to invest in new energy projects, as well as some top tier talent. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

Shell said on Monday it would buy 100 per cent of the company for an undisclosed amount. Ubitricity, founded in Germany, is a leading European provider of on-street charging for electric vehicles.

The company, which integrates electric car charging into street infrastructure such as lamp posts, has more than 2,700 charge points in the UK, giving it a market share of 13 per cent.

Shell said the acquisition would help it expand into on-street charging. It already has more than 1,000 fast and ultrafast charging points at 430 Shell retail stations and a greater number including those owned by partners and affiliates at forecourts and motorway service stations.

Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close later this year.

Street charging is expected to expand rapidly as customers who lack private driveways and those that wish to charge their vehicles overnight seek greater options.

Istvan Kapitany, who heads Shell’s mobility business, said: “Working with local authorities, we want to support the growing number of Shell customers who want to switch to an [electric vehicle] by making it as convenient as possible for them.”

Like peers such as Total and Repsol, Shell has been expanding along the electricity supply chain in recent years as it looks to build a business that will be resilient through an energy transition towards cleaner fuels.

Investors and environmentalists have demanded that oil companies take greater responsibility for their role in enabling climate change, forcing Europe’s energy majors to make new pledges for cleaning up their businesses.

Shell, like BP and other oil groups, said last year it would become a net-zero emissions business. It is expected to detail its plan for how to get there next month at its strategy update.

While top leaders at the company plan to accelerate spending into cleaner businesses, they are also wary of abandoning lucrative legacy hydrocarbon divisions too soon.

For example, while electric vehicle adoption is accelerating, the fleet is still dwarfed by those with traditional engines. Demand for petrol and diesel is expected to remain robust for decades to come.

While Shell’s leadership insists it has been on the right path, some executives have said it is not moving fast enough given the rapidly changing demands of the public, investors and climate activists.

The pressure to take climate action has grown over the past year, even as the coronavirus pandemic battered the balance sheets of international oil players.

Lockdowns and travel bans dramatically cut demand for oil and led to a collapse in oil prices, hitting earnings.

Shell cut its dividend for the first time since the second world war, slashed spending by billions of dollars and said it would cut 9,000 jobs as part of a major restructuring.

The company is expected to announce its fourth-quarter results next week.

I imagine they just want to diversify outside of fossil fuels because they see the writing on the wall.

Apparently the largest is... BP.

And their charging point network seems to be fairly slow, 3-5.5kW, fairly similar to basic home charging, but built into bollards and lamp posts.

What the real problem is though is that successive Governments have failed to properly invest in the right type of power stations, and I'm not sure if renewables could handle the extra projected load. See: https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/25/shell-agree...