Making EV Accessible - BP Agrees Chargemaster Charge

• Content
• Fleet & Transportation
• Making EV Accessible - BP Agrees Chargemaster Charge

29 June 2018

June 28 saw BP enter into an agreement to purchase Chargemaster, the UK’s largest electric vehicle charging company.

Chargemaster operates the UK’s largest public network of electric vehicle (EV) charging points, with over 6,500 across the country. It also designs, builds, sells and maintains EV charging units for a wide range of locations, including for business charging.

Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive, BP Downstream said that the move to bring the two biggest retailers of their type together would bring a 'differentiated offer for the country’s growing number of electric vehicle owners'. He said: “At BP we believe that fast and convenient charging is critical to support the successful adoption of electric vehicles. Combining BP’s and Chargemaster’s assets is an important step towards offering fast and ultra-fast charging at BP sites across the UK and to BP becoming the leading provider of energy to low carbon vehicles, on the road or at home.”

EV rising

The number of EVs on the road is anticipated to increase rapidly in coming decades. By 2040 BP estimates that there will be 12 million EVs on UK roads, up from around 135,000 in 2017.

The development of EV charging technologies and networks is a key part of BP’s business strategy protect it from rising baseline fuel prices and a steady decline in the standard internal combustion engine (ICE).

BP believes that to accelerate the adoption of EVs, customers will require convenient access to fast and ultra-fast charging. BP’s current UK retail network is includes 1,200 service stations across the country.

10 minute charging

A key priority for BP Chargemaster will be the rollout of ultra-fast charging infrastructure, including 150kW rapid chargers capable of delivering 100 miles of range in just 10 minutes.

Chargemaster runs POLAR, the largest public charging network in the UK. The POLAR network now includes over 6,500 public charging points. The company has over 40,000 customers of its POLAR network, of which an increasing number choose to pay a monthly subscription and the remainder access on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Completion

Upon completion of the transaction, Chargemaster employees will continue to be employed by BP Chargemaster or its subsidiaries. BP Chargemaster will operate as a wholly-owned BP entity.

Picture: BP will buy Chargemaster.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 29 June 2018

Share

Related Articles