The European oil companies BP, Shell and Total have been buying up assets in the EV charging value chain, and some suspect there’s a sinister strategy—could the oil barons monopolize public charging in key markets, jack up the prices, and kill the electric car once and for all? Maybe. But what if the companies find… Read more »
The European oil comanies bp, Shell and Total have been buying up companies in many charging infrastructure-related fields. Now this trend has spread to the US, as bp announces the acquisition of AMPLY Power, a charging and energy management provider for EV fleets. Under the terms of the agreement, AMPLY Power will continue to operate… Read more »
bp ventures has invested $7 million in smart charging specialist IoTecha, leading a $13.2-million investment round. This investment is aligned with bp’s stated aim to provide over 70,000 public EV charging points worldwide by 2030. IoTecha will use the new investment to scale its operations through bp’s electrification network. Shaun Healey, bp ventures Principal, will… Read more »
The BMW Group, Daimler Mobility and bp will each acquire a 33.3% stake in Digital Charging Solutions (DCS), a European developer of digital charging solutions for auto manufacturers and fleet operators. DCS works with OEMs to integrate its charging solutions into vehicle operating systems. The company currently operates charging services for BMW and Daimler, including… Read more »
Volkswagen and bp have announced a partnership to deploy DC fast charging facilities at bp and Aral retail sites in the UK, Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Oil giant bp aims to grow its public charging network to over 70,000 charging points worldwide by 2030. In the UK, bp pulse, the company’s charging arm, plans… Read more »
BP Chargemaster, BP’s UK-based charging network subsidiary, has powered up its first 150 kW ultra-fast charger at a BP retail site. The charger is the first in a planned network of ultra-fast chargers across the UK. BP plans to roll out 400 ultra-fast chargers at BP sites across the UK by the end of 2021,… Read more »
BP Ventures has invested in Powershare, a Chinese provider of integrated hardware and software for EV charging, during a Series A funding round. PowerShare offers an online platform that connects drivers, charge point operators, and power suppliers. The company’s cloud-based system allows power suppliers to continuously monitor the power demand from vehicles and balance it… Read more »
The oil and gas giant’s EV investment rationale is outlined in its new report, BP Technology Outlook. Demand for travel is central to modern society. Currently, transport accounts for 20% of global primary energy use. The global light-duty fleet of cars, vans, and light trucks is here to stay for the foreseeable future. In fact,… Read more »
Rolling out the charging stations necessary to enable wide-scale adoption of EVs is a challenging task. Though valiant efforts are being made, there are still a lot of problematic applications that could benefit from innovative solutions. One young company, FreeWire Technologies, believes it has an answer to help with scalability: batteries on wheels. Business school… Read more »
BP has agreed to purchase Chargemaster, which builds charging stations and operates a network of over 6,500 public charging points across the UK. Unlike some oil giants, BP is taking a proactive approach to the coming transition to electric transport. The company estimates that there will be 12 million EVs on UK roads by 2040,… Read more »