UK: Shell plans to install 50,000 electric vehicle charging points


The energy giant, Shell, is offering to help local authorities pay for the installation of the chargers – around 50,000. As the government targets a reduction in carbon emissions to zero by 2050, the plan is to push more charging points available to customers while avoiding private parking stations. 

It is said the UK plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, which corresponds to the 50,000 extra charging points installed by Shell to ensure there is an adequate amount of charging stations. However, according to a recent report from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, data suggest that 280,000-480,000 public charge points will be needed by 2030 to accommodate the demand.

How will Shell do this? 

Shell will roll out its plans through the on-street charging point company, ubitricity, which they bought earlier this year. Ubitricity currently operates 3,600 charging sites in Britain. The company said it would support local authorities with a financing offer to install the charging points across the UK, according to Sky News. With points not covered by a 75% central government subsidy, Shell will do this by topping up the remaining cost of installing on-street chargers.

David Bunch, Shell’s UK chair, said: “It’s vital to speed up the pace of EV charger installation across the UK and this aim and financing offer is designed to help achieve that.”

Transport minister Rachel Maclean said: “Together with industry and local authorities, we can create cleaner, greener local communities – providing EV chargepoints for people without off-street parking across the country.”

More than 60% of UK households in cities and urban areas don’t have their own parking spaces, so rapidly increasing on-street charging is a priority for the Government to ensure the zero carbon emissions by 2050 is achievable. Ubitricity currently holds 13.1% of the UK’s car charging points market with the Tesla Supercharger is 2.9%.

Oliver Shaw, CEO at Kalibrate, a fuel and convenience retail analytics platform headquartered in Manchester, commented: “Shell’s ongoing investment in Ubitricity, the UK’s biggest EV charging network, is a significant step in an industry that has a long way to go to make charging points universally accessible.

Company: Shell


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