GO WELL, CHARGE SHELL

When the automobile began to displace the horse and cart in the early 1900s, at a certain point, the transition was so unexpected and so rapid that farmers did not even bother to harvest the hay from their fields from one season to the next.

In today’s day and age, we see a similar trend unfolding in Europe, with the battery electric vehicle (BEV) beginning to displace the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle at an ever-increasing pace. In December 2021, 25% of all new passenger cars sold in the UK were BEVs, while sales of new petrol and diesel passenger cars, including hybrids, continued to decline at an alarming rate.

Not wanting to leave their fields unharvested like the farmers of yore, even Shell, the multinational oil and gas giant, has identified the opportunity to obtain a slice of the electric vehicle market that is set to disrupt their forecourt business. Since 2017, Shell has rolled out their own public charging network to nearly 8,000 EV charging points on Shell forecourts in the UK.

In a groundbreaking move, Shell announced that they would be converting one of their conventional fuel service stations in London into an electric vehicle charging hub that will feature ten 175 kW charge points, a comfortable seating area for EV drivers, a Costa Coffee store, and an extensive Little Waitrose & Partners shop. The hub will use solar panels built into the roof to generate renewable electricity for the site, and the chargers will all run on 100% certified renewable electricity.