Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy Dutch charging network operator NewMotion, which manages over 30,000 charging points in 25 European countries.

Shell has already started to install fast charging stations at its branded retail locations in Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and the Philippines. Shell Recharge, which has been introduced in partnership with Allego, is now available at three London-area service stations, and will be launched at 7 more locations by the end of the year.

NewMotion will continue to operate under its own branding, in parallel to the Shell Recharge program. Buying NewMotion will give Shell a stake in the home and workplace charging market.

“They’re complementary offers,” said Shell’s VP for New Fuels, Matthew Tipper. “One is fast charging on the go on the forecourt and the other is a slightly slower rate of charge at the workplace or at home. At this stage there are no plans to integrate the two.”

Shell’s rivals are also beginning to explore the EV charging market. BP is in talks with EV-makers about partnering to offer charging at its retail sites. NewMotion has signed a deal with Total to allow the French oil company’s customers access to its network. Total recently bought Dutch company PitPoint, which operates EV charging stations as well as natural gas refueling stations.

Shell has forecast that oil demand could peak as soon as the next decade. “We recognize that one of the themes of the energy transition is going to be electrification,” said Matthew Tipper. “As our heritage is fuel supply, the obvious place to start is battery electric vehicles…and that technology is accelerating.”

Source: Reuters, Financial Times