BP announced Thursday that it signed an agreement to purchase Chargemaster, the U.K.'s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging company.
Chargemaster operates the U.K.'s largest public network of EV charging points, with over 6,500 across the country, according to BP's press release. The company also designs, builds, sells and maintains EV charging units for a wide range of locations, including for home charging, it said.
'At BP, we believe that fast and convenient charging is critical to support the successful adoption of electric vehicles,' Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of BP Downstream, said in the statement.
'Combining BP's and Chargemaster's complementary expertise, experience and assets is an important step towards offering fast and ultra-fast charging at BP sites across the U.K. and to BP becoming the leading provider of energy to low carbon vehicles, on the road or at home,' he added.
According to BP, the number of EVs on the road is anticipated to increase rapidly in the coming decades. By 2040, BP estimates that there will be 12 million EVs on U.K. roads, up from around 135,000 in 2017.
'The development of convenient and innovative EV charging technologies and networks is a key part of BP’s strategy to advance the energy transition,' the statement read, adding BP was committed to developing new offers to meet changing customer demand and growing new businesses and supporting opportunities for customers to reduce their emissions.
The company said that a key priority for BP Chargemaster would be the rollout of an 'ultra-fast' charging infrastructure, including 150 kilowatt rapid chargers capable of delivering 100 miles of range in just 10 minutes.
BP customers in the U.K. can expect to access BP Chargemaster chargers on forecourts over the next 12 months, according to the statement.
By Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr