bp chargemaster BP Buys Chargemaster to Electrify BP UK Stations

[G. David Felt]

BP Buys Chargemaster to Electrify BP UK Stations

According to this Reuters story, British Petroleum (BP) has agreed to buy Chargemaster for $170 million US dollars. This will give BP the leading position in the UK for established EV auto charge points around the country and allow them access to Chargemasters Ultra-Fast Chargers which they will spend $500 million over the next year on installing at their BP stations around the country.

BP in competition with Royal Dutch Shell, VW and Daimler who are all investing in their own charging systems or teaming up with other station companies to install ultra-fast chargers wants to lead the nation in the growth market as consumers shift away from polluting fossil fuels to EV auto's. BP like their rivals wants to clearly carve out this position as petrol is forecast to peak as early as next decade as nations move to leave the fossil fuels behind.

BP forecasts the EV auto's to soar to 300 million by 2040 from the 1 million in 2016. Having a series of stations where people can stop and get at least 100 miles of charge in less than 10 minutes across our 1,200 petrol stations in Britain is what will happen over the next 12 months. While most will charge at home, BP believes that the stations will play a important role as only the stations will have the Ultra-Fast chargers that can cover from 150 kW to 800 kW charging for road trips.

BP will be rebranding Chargemaster to BP Chargemaster this year as they operate the existing 6,500 EV charge points in Britain and the over 50,000 units across Europe. BP now has the largest charging network of any petrol company in the world. Once Britain stations are installed over the next 12 months, BP will then focus on doing the same across China before turning to the US market in 2020.

In January, BP invested $5 million in FreeWire Technology which manufactures mobile EV rapid charging systems. In February, BP connected with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi to develop new battery tech for the next generation of auto's.