Following yesterday’s news (Thursday 28 June) that BP
is acquiring Chargemaster, the largest charging infrastructure
company in the UK,
Harminder Singh, Director for Power at
GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his
views on this development:
‘‘In a significant move, BP has acquired
Chargemaster, the UK’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging
company, making a statement of intent to gain a strong position
in the EV charging market. Earlier this year, BP had announced
that it will add rapid charging points for cars at its petrol
stations in the UK supported by the company’s reported investment
of $5 million in Freewire Technologies, a US-based company which
provides fast charging units for cars at the petrol
pumps.
The acquisition is a logical move for BP given that EV car sales
could be as high as 90% of all car sales by 2050 according to the
2017 Future Energy Scenarios report published by National Grid.
This follows the UK government’s announcement last year that all
new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be banned from 2040, as
part of its ‘clean air plan’.
“Another plus for BP’s acquisition is that the growth
in charging infrastructure has not kept pace with the growth in
electric vehicles. According to IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2018, the
number of EV charging stations in the UK has increased from 1,503
in 2011 to 13,534 in 2017, showing a CAGR of 44.2% during this
period. However the electric vehicle stock in the country has
grown at a much higher CAGR of 89.35% during the same period from
2,900 in 2011 to 133,670 in 2017. This highlights the need for
major players to enter the space, and the fastest way for them to
do this is through mergers and acquisition.
‘’As EV penetration increases, consumers will be
using different ways to charge their cars – some using the public
infrastructure, while others preferring to have private charging
points at home. This presents a risk of stranded infrastructure
for pure-play EV charging companies, which is why merging with a
large energy retailer is an increasingly attractive
proposition.
‘With the rapid shift we are witnessing in
consumer transport fuel choices, oil and gas retailers have the
inherent advantage of an established network of filling stations,
which they can easily leverage to get into a dominant position in
the EV charging market to remain competitive. BP’s competitors
such as Shell and Total have been making rapid strides in this
direction, by opening charging stations at their retail points
and acquiring charging infrastructure providers”.
