Shell hopes to work with automakers to bolster EV infrastructure
The energy company has not been shy about its electrified aspirations.
Shell might be forging its own path into electrification and its underlying infrastructure, but the energy company knows it can't go it alone forever.
Shell is open to working with automakers to take EV charging beyond standalone stations, Reuters reports, citing an interview with Mark Gainsborough, Shell's EVP for new energy. "We recognize that the customers are not just necessarily going to go to recharge just at retail sites, they're going to want to charge at work and home, so we're moving into this space," Gainsborough told Reuters.
In his interview, Gainsborough told Reuters that Shell talks "to all of the auto manufacturers ... They're all potential customers and partners for us." He said that Shell would likely forge a number of partnerships that aren't exclusive. However, Gainsborough also said that the EV-infrastructure market is still "small," but it's ready to scale up investments if things pick up speed in the near future.
Shell first made news in the EV-charging space in 2017, when it announced that the energy supplier had purchased NewMotion, a Dutch company that owned one of Europe's largest EV charging networks. Last week, Shell made more news when it acquired Greenlots, a company that not only offers its own charging network, but its own chargers and software, as well.
Shell's competition isn't ignoring this industry, either. Last June, BP announced that it had purchased Chargemaster, the UK's largest public EV charging network, comprising some 6,500 charging points across the country. BP is currently in the process of adding its EV fast chargers to 1,200 service stations across the UK, each capable of 150-kW charging.
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