SHELL STEALS MARCH ON RIVALS
Group partners top carmakers to deploy docks for electric vehicles at 80 Europe highway sites in 2019
ROYAL Dutch Shell has partnered with top carmakers to deploy ultrafast chargers on Europe’s highways, stealing a march on rivals in the race to remove one of the biggest obstacles facing the electric car sector.
Shell’s agreement with IONITY — a joint venture between BMW, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen — will initially bring high-powered docks to 80 highway sites in 2019, it said in a statement.
Power giants, including France’s Engie and Germany’s EON as well as niche players such as United States startup ChargePoint, are all building vehiclecharging networks in Europe, but Shell says the IONITY technology is key to addressing the problem of journey distances.
While electric vehicles still account for only a small fraction of the global car market, the pace of growth and a sustained period of low crude prices is prompting oil companies to reassess old business models as the world moves towards cleaner modes of transportation. Under Shell’s most aggressive projections, it expects the global electric vehicle fleet to grow from about one per cent of the entire car fleet today to 10 per cent by 2025, displacing oil demand equating to about 800,000 barrels per day.
Rival BP said in August it was talking to electric car manufacturers on deals to offer battery recharging docks at its stations.
The number of electric vehicle charging points in Europe nearly tripled from 2014 to this year to reach almost 120,000, according to the European Alternative Fuels Observatory.
With IONITY technology, cars with advanced charging capacity of up to 350 kilowatts will take five to eight minutes to charge, Shell said. Reuters