Oil companies expanding their electric car fast-charging networks may not be quite the image loss leader some suspect.
BP considers EV charging a for-profit bound business, according to a report from Reuters, quoted a top executive at the energy giant. As it highlighted, BP’s charging division is expected to be unprofitable by 2025, but on a margin (money in, out) it’s close to filling up gas.
The surprising revelation, from Emma Delaney, BP’s head of customer and product division, doesn’t include any company numbers on profits or losses related to electric vehicle charging, but she does press strong that in Europe and the UK, those margins are close.
We are very curious to see those numbers. Besides the environmental impacts, while mining, refining/dispensing and distribution are expensive, labor-intensive processes, the distribution of electricity depends on the proper arrangement of the power facility. local quality, hardware maintenance, and cost-driven demand.
Quick Check convenience store with Tesla Superchargers under construction, Kingston, New York
BP may also be looking at its companion convenience store business, a key operation in many regions of the world to make the business possible.
According to the Fuel and Convenience Retailers Association, in the five years leading up to 2018, the gross profit margin per gallon of gasoline in the U.S. amounted to nearly 22 cents per gallon, or about 8.5% of the retail price.
On a pure energy basis, one gallon of gasoline is equivalent to about 33.7 kWh. So to overtake gasoline, oil companies may only need a larger fast-charge margin of 0.65 cents/kwh.
Looking at the BP-owned Greenlots network in the US, this editor’s closest station, in Portland, Oregon, is charging 15 cents per kWh when charging up to 175 kWh. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this is not much higher than the current local average commercial electricity rate of about 8.1 cents/kwh, or the median residential price of about 12,00. 6 cents.
2018 Nissan Leaf with Dumpster’s Greenlots fast charger at the tourist plaza I-87 Modena, February 2018
Delaney said to Reuters that BP sees the highest growth in fast charging as part of its fleet services. Are from logistics charge arrive last mile delivery truck, which is likely to be one of the big profitable platforms in the next few years.
BP’s first powered EV charger in 2010 but has begun to push charging seriously in 2017, as the petrol giant revealed that it is in talks with electric vehicle manufacturers and looks at ways it can enter the charging market. By the end of that year, most petroleum companies had become engage more in charging and battery technology, and since then, nearly all of the major global oil companies have announced a rebranding to an energy company rather than an oil company.
The company is aiming to expand its global charging business from around 11,000 charging points today to 70,000 points by 2030. It also invests in charging technology and auxiliary batteries, such as Free mobile phone fast charging and StoreDot . battery technology.
FreeWire Boost charger at convenience store
One skepticism about these toll initiatives is that oil companies are stepping up their charging business in the event of an impending carbon tax, or credit system for CO2, that would hold oil companies more accountable for the carbon emissions that the fuels they generate will eventually produce. BP is among a number of oil giants that have announced targets “net-zero” in 2050.
As we have shown in various ways before, internal combustion vehicles will be used for decades, and Big Oil is not in danger of imminent collapse. The transition will be slow and messy, but if oil companies find it profitable to collect fees, perhaps the change will come a little sooner.
