Shell to open charging points at UK fuel station as it looks to take advantage of surge in demand for electric cars

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSB) is looking to take advantage of the sharp rise in electric cars by opening its first wave of charging points at some of its UK petrol stations.

The roll-out comes as the big players in the sector looks to diversify away from their usual stomping grounds of oil and gas, which are largely seen as dying sources of power.

It is Shell’s first step into the UK electric car sector and comes just days after the company snapped up NewMotion – a Dutch firm with 30,000 private charging points at homes and in offices in Europe.

By its own admission the FTSE 100 giant is still feeling its way into the market and only ten of its 1,000 fuel stations – most of which will be in and around London – will add charging points to begin with.

Those points will allow electric vehicle drivers to charge their cars to 80% in 30 minutes, although it won’t come cheap: a top-end Tesla Model S would cost almost £50 to charge from virtually flat to full.

Demand for battery-powered cars has surged in recent years and there are now an estimated 115,000 of them on UK roads, up from almost zero only a decade ago.

“There’s no doubt the electric vehicle market is developing fast. And we want to offer customers choice: it doesn’t really matter what kind of vehicle they’re driving, we want them to drive into a Shell station, refuel in whatever capacity the fuel is,” said Jane Lindsay-Green, UK future fuels manager at Shell.

Shares gained 0.3% to £23.25 in early afternoon trading.

Story by ProactiveInvestors