Oil giant Shell buys leading operator of electric vehicle charging stations

Royal Dutch Shell, a leading global oil and natural gas producer, will purchase a top European operator of electric vehicle charging stations in a push to roll out the technology at its service stations.

Shell said Thursday that it would buy Netherlands-based NewMotion, which has produced more than 30,000 private charging stations and 50,000 public ones throughout Europe.

Shell said it would use the acquisition to help roll out electric vehicle charging stations at many of its 45,000 service stations around the world, the Financial Times reports.

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“Today’s announcement is an early step towards ensuring customers can access a range of refueling choices over the coming decades, as new technologies evolve to co-exist with traditional transport fuels,” Matthew Tipper, Shell’s Vice President for New Fuels, said in a statement.

“This move provides customers the flexibility to charge their electric vehicles at home, work and on the go. When you add this customer offer to our current roll out of fast charging points on Shell forecourts, we believe we are developing the full raft of charge solutions required to support the future of EVs,” the statement continued.

Demand for electric vehicles is expected to surge in the coming decades, a trend that poses a threat to traditional fossil fuel producers.

Analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicted this year that one-third of automobiles in the world will be electric by 2040, a shift that will cut demand for oil production by about 8 million barrels a day.