Shell will, more likely than not, have big challenges staying anywhere near its current size as the world transitions to. electric vehicles. But it sure is building a big foothold in the EV charging realm so that it at least has that diversification offshoot to profit off of.
For the past several years, Shell has been buying up EV charging networks, including some very large ones. (See a list of stories below from many of those acquisitions and developments.) The most recent EV charging news from the oil giant is that it’s acquiring evpass, a Swiss EV charging network — the largest in Switzerland.
evpass charging station map, courtesy of evpass.
The network makes up a third of Switzerland’s EV charging stations. It was founded 7 years ago, in 2016, and prior to this Shell acquisition, it was owned by Eaton, FMV (Forces Motrices Valaisannes), and AEW (an energy supplier).
How much does Shell intend to grow its EV charging business? We’re talking millions of EV charging stations. “Shell has a target to operate over 500,000 charging points worldwide by 2025 and 2.5 million by 2030,” the company states.
Switzerland is not the biggest country in the world, but it is one piece of that plan. “Switzerland is an important market for our Mobility business where we plan to rapidly expand the number of EV charge points offered at our stations and destinations like supermarkets, hotels and car parks,“ said István Kapitány, Global Executive Vice President of Shell Mobility. “For our customers, we aim to make the EV driving experience even more comfortable and convenient by offering drivers more charging infrastructure at more locations. The acquisition of evpass, with coverage in a third of Swiss municipalities, puts Shell in a leading position in the local EV charging market that we plan to extend even further.”
Some previous Shell EV charging stories (year in parentheses):
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